Dr. G.

Wilkinson
Electronics and Circuit Theory, MT 2009
Summary on Kirchhoffs Laws and Thevenins and Nortons Theorems
Kirchhoffs Laws:

In = 0

Conservation of charge requires:

At every node in a circuit, the sum of the currents is zero, i.e.
the magnitude of the currents flowing in equals the magnitude
of the currents flowing out.

Vn = 0 Conservation of energy requires:

The sum of all voltage drops across components within a closed
loop is zero.
Sources:

The internal resistance of an ideal voltage source is Rint 0.

The internal resistance of an ideal current source is Rint .

Thevenins and Nortons Theorems:

Networks of current / voltage
sources, resistors, etc, can be
replaced by one of the equivalent circuits below. The sole
proviso is that all elements
obey a linear relationship between voltages and currents.

Thevenin
Veq

Req

Norton
A

A
Ieq

Req
B

These equivalent circuits represent the original circuit with respect to terminals A
and B.
Veq is found by calculating the voltage between A and B for the open-circuit case.
Ieq is found by calculating the current flowing from A to B when A and B are
short-circuited.
Req is then Veq/Ieq.
For the case where all voltage sources are independent of current and all current
sources are independent of voltage (ie. ideal), Req is found by replacing all voltage
sources with wires (Rint 0) and by removing all current sources (Rint ).
Then the circuit is merely a network of resistors and the equivalent resistance with
respect to A and B is easily found.

An example:
The following circuit is successively reduced to its Thevenin equivalent circuit.
12
23
34
45

V0 and R1 are transformed to their Norton equivalent.

The two current sources and the two resistors are combined.
The single current source and its parallel resistor are replaced by their
Thevenin equivalent.
Finally, the two resistors in series are combined to give Req.

R1

V0

R2

R3

I0

V0
R1

R1 R2

R3

I0

B
R3

R1 R2
R1+ R2

I0 + V0
R1

I 0 + V0 R 1 R 2
R1 R1+ R2

R3

R1 R2
R1+ R2

B
A
Veq =

I 0 + V0 R 1 R 2
R1 R1+ R2

R R

Req= R 1+ R2 + R3
1