Differentiate between Kirchoff’s current law (KCL) and Kirchoff’s voltage law (KVL

 

Kirchhoff's current law

                    Kirchhoff's current law (1st Law) states that current flowing into a node (or a junction) must be equal to current flowing out of it. This is a consequence of charge conservation

 

 

 

EXPLANATION;

                     

 

Here, the three currents entering the node, I₁, I₂, I₃ are all positive in value and the two currents leaving the node, I₄ and I₅ are negative in value. Then this means we can also rewrite the equation as;

I₁ + I₂ + I₃ – I₄ – I₅ = 0

The term Node in an electrical circuit generally refers to a connection or junction of two or more current carrying paths or elements such as cables and components. Also for current to flow either in or out of a node a closed circuit path must exist. We can use Kirchhoff’s current law when analysing parallel circuits.

 

 

Kirchhoff's voltage law

Kirchhoff's voltage law (2nd Law) states that the sum of all voltages around any closed loop in a circuit must equal zero. This is a consequence of charge conservation and also conservation of energy.

 

Starting at any point in the loop continue in the same direction noting the direction of all the voltage drops, either positive or negative, and returning back to the same starting point. It is important to maintain the same direction either clockwise or anti-clockwise or the final voltage sum will not be equal to zero. We can use Kirchhoff’s voltage law when analysing series circuits.

When analysing either DC circuits or AC circuits using Kirchhoffs Circuit Laws a number of definitions and terminologies are used to describe the parts of the circuit being analysed such as: node, paths, branches, loops and meshes. These terms are used frequently in circuit analysis so it is important