Experiment 5 - Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL)

The first of the Kirchhoff's laws is referred to as Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL) or sometimes as Kirchhoff's junction rule. It describes the relationship of the current that flows into a junction and out of a junction.

Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL) The sum of the currents flowing into a junction is equal to the sum of the currents flowing out of the junction. Consider the illustration of a fictitious junction. Applying the KCL gives you... I1 + I2 + I3 = I4 + I5

Illustration Kirchhoff's Current Law.

The KCL corresponds to the mass conservation law of physics. It simply states that no current can spontaneously arise or disappear.

However, the KCL is not able to tell how the current is divided or why. Nevertheless, the KCL is indispensable to analyze complex circuits. But more on that later.

In the next experiment, you apply the KCL to your circuit...