Verification of Kirchhoff’s Current Law in a Parallel

Circuit

THEORY

Kirchhoff’s Current Law is basically stating the conservation of charges at a

junction or node in a circuit. It is the first of the two laws of Gustav Kirchhoff.
The law states that the sum of current flowing in a junction or a node is same
as the sum of current flowing out of it i.e no current can be lost in the process.
Kirchhoff’s Current law is valuable for analyzing both AC and DC circuits.

Figure 1 A Parallel Circuit.

According to the Kirchhoff’s Current Law, here, I1+I2+I3 = I4+I5.

Therefore, ∑ I (¿) = ∑ I (out ).
As a result, Kirchhoff’s Current Law is applicable to a junction or a point in a
circuit where the charge has several possible paths to travel. The overall
charge remains the same before entering the junction as well as after crossing
the junction.
EQUIPMENT

1. Multimeter
2. Digital/ Analog Portable Breakout Box
3. 5 Random Resistors (Two resistors were of same value)
4. Wires

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

1. At first, our group picked five resistors of random values and measured
the resistances of them by a multimeter. As found by the multimeter,
the resistances were: R1 = 4.13kΩ, R2 = 1.24kΩ, R3 = 8.36kΩ, R4 = 9.67kΩ
and R5 = 8.36kΩ. One of the group mates noted down the values
carefully.
2. Then we proceeded to form the required circuit on the Breakout Box.
For this, at first, we connected a wire with the positive voltage source.
Then we aligned 3 resistors (R1, R2 and R3 ) vertically with the other end
of the wire which was connected earlier. These 3 resistors were in
parallel to each other. Then we connected the other two resistors
parallely (R4 and R5) with each other and in a series connection with the
former ones. Another wire was needed to form this series connection
between the first 3 paralleled resistors and the last 2 paralleled resistors.
Finally, we completed the circuit by connecting another wire with the
ground whose other end was aligned with the last end of the 2
paralleled resistors.
3. Then we calculated the total resistance along the first parallel part of the
circuit as well as for the second parallel part of the circuit. We used the
Rp-1 = R1-1 + R2-1 + R3-1 formula to calculate the equivalent resistance by
the help of a calculator and noted down the values carefully. We
followed the same step to calculate the equivalent resistance of the
other parallely connected resistors ( R4 and R5 ). As the first three and
the latter two were connected by a series connection, we took the sum
 of the two equivalent resistances (RP1 and RP2) and thus the overall
resistance i.e the total resistance of the whole circuit was calculated.
4. Next we used the Breakout Box to provide a random potential difference
to the circuit. Then we measured the potential difference by parallely
connecting the multimeter with the positive and ground part of the
circuit in a parallel connection to accurately find out the source voltage.
One of us noted down the values.
5. Afterwards we proceeded to find the total current across the circuit by
connecting the multimeter with the front end of the ground connected
wire and back end of any one of the two paralleled resistors, so that the
multimeter was in a series connection. Then we calculated the voltage
across the first three paralleled resistors as well as for the last two
paralleled resistors. Later we found out the current across each and
every resistor respectively (I1, I2, I3, I4 and I5) with the help of the
multimeter. We also calculated the current across every resistor
theoretically. All of the values were notes down carefully.
6. Then the procedure number 4 and 5 were repeated again for three more
random potential differences.
7. Then we calculated the sum of the current passing through the first
three paralleled resistors (Ii = I1 + I2 + I3) which entered the middle
junction as well as the sum of the current passing through the last two
paralleled resistors (Io = I4 + I5) for each different potential difference
both for the practical values and the theoretical values.
8. Then we compared the practical value with the theoretical value for sum
of current passing through the first three paralleled resistors (I i), and
then for the sum of current passing through the last two paralleled
resistors and lastly for the total current across the circuit. We found out
that the readings varied by less than 5%, and thus was, acceptable.
TABLE DATA

Table 1:

Source Is (mA) I1 (mA) I2 (mA) I3 (mA) I4 (mA) I5 (mA)

Voltage( Theory Theory Theory Theory Theory Theory
Practical Practical Practical Practical Practical Practical
V) V/RT V1/R1 V2/R2 V3/R3 V4/R4 V5/R5

4.10 0.77 0.73 0.16 0.15 0.53 0.51 0.078 0.072 0.356 0.34 0.4 0.40
8.58 1.60 1.58 0.33 0.33 1.11 1.11 0.164 0.16 0.745 0.74 0.86 0.86
12.69 2.376 2.38 0.492 0.50 1.64 1.65 0.243 0.24 1.102 1.11 1.27 1.28
16.93 3.17 3.15 0.656 0.65 2.185 2.18 0.324 0.32 1.470 1.47 1.70 1.69

Table 2: Error Calculation.

Source Ii = I1 + I2 + I3 (mA) Error

(T-P)/T x 100% Io = I 4 + I 5 (mA) Error
(T-P)/T x 100% IS (mA) Error
(T-P)/T x 100%

Voltage (V) Theory Practical Theory Practical Theory Practical

4.10 0.767 0.734 4.30 0.76 0.74 2.63 0.77 0.73 5.19

8.58 1.603 1.60 0.187 1.605 1.60 0.312 1.60 1.58 1.25

12.69 2.375 2.39 0.63 2.372 2.39 0.759 2.376 2.38 0.168

16.93 3.165 3.15 0.47 3.17 3.16 0.315 3.17 3.15 0.63
RESULT

The experiment was done with utmost care. The resistances were measured
carefully and the circuit was made accurately. The currents across each
resistance were measured carefully too. Expected or close to expected results
were found with very less error compared to the theoretical values as seen in
the given table. This confirms the authenticity of our experiment.

REFERENCE
1. Wikipedia
2. Introductory Circuit Analysis (11th Edition) – Robert L. Boylestad