MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

ST. MARY’S SCHOOL

MATH AND PHYSICS DEPARTMENT
12th – Physics: Kirchhoff´s Laws
Teacher: Carlos Obaldia

“A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit”. Matthew 7:18

In classes we have been studying how to solve complex circuits using Kirchhoff´s Laws or Rules. Remember that these
rules express the following:

• Junction Rule: The sum of all the currents that enter a junction is equal to the sum of all currents that leave the
junction.

𝐼𝑖𝑛 = 𝐼𝑜𝑢𝑡

• Loop Rule: The sum of the voltage of each element in a closed-circuit loop is equal to 0.
𝑛

∑ 𝑉𝑖 = 0
𝑖=1

𝑉1 + 𝑉2 + 𝑉3 + ⋯ + 𝑉𝑛 = 0
In addition to these rules, there are some conventions we must follow in order to obtain all the equations of the problem:

• CURRENT: Choose a direction for each current in the circuit. Once you obtain the answer for each current, the
sign of the current will tell if the chosen direction was correct or if the current is actually going in the opposite
direction.
• VOLTAGE: depending on the direction chosen for the current in the loop, the voltage of the battery and for
each resistance will be:
Battery:
a) If the current goes from the positive to negative side of the battery, the voltage is negative.
b) If the current goes from the negative to positive side of the battery, the voltage is positive.
Resistance:
c) If the blue curve is going in the same direction as the current passing through the resistance, the
voltage of the resistance will be negative.
d) If the blue curve is going in the opposite direction of the current passing through the resistance, the
voltage of the resistance will be positive.
Example 1: Find the value for the current and voltage of each resistance in the circuit.

Choose the direction of the currents in each loop. You can choose directions different from the ones shown in this
example. Your answer will still be the same in magnitude. The circuit in the left side shows the direction chosen for each
current. The circuit in the right side shows the direction chosen for the current in each loop (blue curve).

Applying each rule and the conventions mentioned before we can obtain the equations of the problem:

• Junction a: in this junction, current 3 (I3) is entering the junction. Current 1 (I1) and current 2 (I2) are leaving the
junction.
𝑰𝟑 = 𝑰𝟏 + 𝑰𝟐

• Junction b: in this junction, now current 1 (I1) and current 2 (I2) are entering the junction while current 3 (I3) is
leaving the junction.
𝑰𝟏 + 𝑰𝟐 = 𝑰 𝟑

IMPORTANT: you can notice that we obtained the same equation so there is no need to use both equations, just
choose one of them.
• Loop 1: in loop 1 we have four elements: the battery of 14 V, the battery of 10 V, the 4 Ω resistance and the 6 Ω
resistance. Following the conventions, we can see that:
1) The voltage of the 14 V battery will be positive because the blue curve goes from the -
to the + side.

2) The voltage of the 4 Ω resistance will be positive because the blue curve goes in
the opposite direction of I2.

3) The voltage of the 10 V battery will be positive because the blue curve goes from the - to
the + side.

4) The voltage of the 6 Ω resistance will be negative because the blue curve goes in
the same direction as I1.

Then, the equation for loop 1 is:

𝟏𝟒 + (𝟒Ω)𝑰𝟐 + 𝟏𝟎 − (𝟔Ω)𝑰𝟏 = 𝟎

𝟐𝟒 − (𝟔Ω)𝑰𝟏 + (𝟒Ω)𝑰𝟐 = 𝟎

• Loop 2: in loop 2 we have three elements: the battery of 10 V, the 6 Ω resistance and the 2 Ω resistance.
Following the conventions, we can see that:
5) the voltage of the 10 V battery will be positive because the blue curve goes from the - to
the + side.

6) The voltage of the 6 Ω resistance will be negative because the blue curve goes in
the same direction as I1.

7) The voltage of the 2 Ω resistance will be negative because the blue curve goes in the
same direction as I3.

Then, the equation for loop 2 is:

𝟏𝟎 − (𝟔Ω)𝑰𝟏 − (𝟐Ω)𝑰𝟑 = 𝟎

IMPORTANT: In this example, there are three unknown values: I1, I2 and I3. Therefore, we must have
three equations, nor less nor more.
 Now, our system of equations is:
𝑰𝟑 = 𝑰𝟏 + 𝑰 𝟐
𝟐𝟒 − 𝟔𝑰𝟏 + 𝟒𝑰𝟐 = 𝟎
𝟏𝟎 − 𝟔𝑰𝟏 − 𝟐𝑰𝟑 = 𝟎

The augmented matrix of the system is:

𝑰𝟏 + 𝑰𝟐 − 𝑰𝟑 = 𝟎

𝟔𝑰𝟏 − 𝟒𝑰𝟐 + 𝟎 = 𝟐𝟒

𝟔𝑰𝟏 + 𝟎 + 𝟐𝑰𝟑 = 𝟏𝟎

• The system can be solved using any method that you want: Substitution, Elimination, Gauss-Jordan method,
Cramer´s Method, Gaussian Method.
• Depending in the size of the system of equations, some methods will be more easy to apply.
• If the system consists of only three equations (like in the example) it would be easier to use substitution and
elimination. Cramer´s method is also a valid option.
• However, for system of four or more equations, either Gauss-Jordan or Gaussian Method can be used since
these two are the fastest way to obtain the solutions. The other methods need more time and they get more
complicated because of the size of the system.

The answer of this system will be obtained using the three Matrix methods:

• Cramer´s method:

First step: find the determinant of the matrix.

= (1)(-4)(2) + (6)(0)(-1) + (6)(1)(0) - [(6)(-4)(-1)+(1)(0)(0)+(6)(1)(2)]

= -8 -24 -12 =-44

 Second step: find the determinant for each current.

= (0)(-4)(2) +(24)(0)(-1)+(10)(1)(0)- [(10)(-4)(-1)+(0)(0)(0)+(24)(1)(2)]

= -40 - 48 = -88

= (1)(24)(2) + (6)(10)(-1) +(6)(0)(0) – [(6)(24)(-1) +(1)(10)(0)+(6)(0)(2)]

= 48 -60 + 144 = 132

= (1)(-4)(10) + (6)(0)(0) +(6)(1)(24) – [(6)(-4)(0) +(1)(0)(24)+(6)(1)(10)]

= -40 +144 -60 = 44

Final step: Find the value of each current.

∆1 −88 ∆2 132 ∆3 44
𝐼1 = = = 2𝐴 𝐼2 = = = −3 𝐴 𝐼3 = = = −1 𝐴
∆ −44 ∆ −44 ∆ −44

Check the sign of each answer. According to these, I2 and I3 are actually going in the opposite direction to the ones
chosen at the beginning.
Direction chosen of the current: Real direction of the current:

Finally, the current and voltage of each resistance is:

Resistance (Ω) Current (A) Voltage (V)

2 I3 = 1 2

4 I2 = 3 12

6 I1 = 2 12

• Gaussian method:
The objective of the gaussian method is to transform the original matrix to the row echelon form:

Example of a matrix in row echelon form. Notice the triangle of zeros in the lower left corner.
We obtain this by making operations between the rows in the matrix.

We start from the original matrix of the problem:

-6R1+R2 R2 -6R1+R3 R3

In the first column, all elements but the first must be zero

-(1/10) R2 R2 6R2+R3 R3

In the second column, the second element must be one. The third element must be zero.
 (5/22) R3 R3

We already have obtained the row echelon form. If you want, you can make the third element of the third row equal to 1.

Now with the final matrix, we can write the equations:

𝑰𝟏 + 𝑰𝟐 − 𝑰𝟑 = 𝟎

𝟑 𝟏𝟐
𝑰𝟐 − 𝟓 𝑰𝟑 = − 𝟓

𝑰𝟑 = −𝟏 𝑨

Then:

𝟑 𝟏𝟐
𝑰𝟐 − 𝑰𝟑 = − 𝑰𝟏 + 𝑰𝟐 − 𝑰𝟑 = 𝟎
𝟓 𝟓
𝟑 𝟏𝟐
𝑰𝟐 = (−𝟏 𝑨) − 𝑰𝟏 = −𝑰𝟐 + 𝑰𝟑
𝟓 𝟓
𝟑 𝟏𝟐
𝑰𝟐 = − − 𝑰𝟏 = −(−𝟑 𝑨) − 𝟏 𝑨
𝟓 𝟓
𝟏𝟓
𝑰𝟐 = − 𝑰𝟏 = 𝟐 𝑨
𝟓
𝑰𝟐 = −𝟑 𝑨

Notice that we obtained the same results as the ones obtained with Cramer’s method.

• Gauss-Jordan method:
The objective of the Gauss-Jordan method is to transform the original matrix to the reduced row echelon form:

Example of a matrix in reduced row echelon form. Notice the triangle of zeros in the lower left
corner and the right upper corner. We obtain this by making operations between the rows in
the matrix.

The Gauss-Jordan method is similar to the Gaussian method. The difference lies in that more steps are needed to obtain
the zeros in the right upper corner of the matrix. But once obtained, the values for each variable will be expressed in the
last column.
We start from the original matrix of the problem:

-6R1+R2 R2 -6R1+R3 R3

-(1/10) R2 R2 6R2+R3 R3

(5/22) R3 R3 (3/5) R3+R2 R2

R3+R1 R1 -R2+R1 R1

From the reduced row echelon form we obtain the value for each current:

I1 = 2 A
Again, we have obtained the same
I2 = -3 A
values as with the other methods.
I3 = -1 A

The important thing in these types of problems is to obtain the system of equations. After that, you are free to choose the
method to solve it.
Example 2: Find the value for the current and voltage in each resistance in the circuit if R = 1.00 kΩ and ε = 250 V.

Choose a direction for each current and in each loop.

Junction a: 𝐼3 = 𝐼1 + 𝐼5 Loop 1: 250 − (1𝑘)𝐼1 − (4𝑘)𝐼3 = 0

Junction b: 𝐼4 + 𝐼5 = 𝐼2 Loop 2: 500 − (2𝑘)𝐼2 − (3𝑘)𝐼4 = 0

Junction c: 𝐼1 + 𝐼2 = 𝐼3 + 𝐼4 Loop 3: −(4𝑘)𝐼3 + (3𝑘)𝐼4 = 0

We have five unknown values (five currents) but there are 6 equations. This means there are two equations that are
equivalent. If we substitute the equation of junction b in the equation of junction c we will end with the same expression
as junction a. Then the equations of junction a and b are equivalent so there is no need to use both.

𝐼1 + 𝐼2 = 𝐼3 + 𝐼4

𝐼1 + (𝐼4 + 𝐼5 ) = 𝐼3 + 𝐼4

𝐼1 + 𝐼5 = 𝐼3

The system of equations is:

𝐼1 + 𝐼5 = 𝐼3
𝐼1 + 𝐼2 = 𝐼3 + 𝐼4
250 − 𝐼1 − 4𝐼3 = 0
500 − 2𝐼2 − 3𝐼4 = 0
−4𝐼3 + 3𝐼4 = 0
𝐼1 + 0 − 𝐼3 + 0 + 𝐼5 = 0
𝐼1 + 𝐼2 − 𝐼3 − 𝐼4 + 0 = 0
𝐼1 + 0 + 4𝐼3 + 0 + 0 = 250
0 + 2𝐼2 + 0 + 3𝐼4 + 0 = 500
0 + 0 + − 4𝐼3 + 3𝐼4 + 0 = 0

Notice that the resistance is in kiloohms. So, the current will be in miliamperes.
The system will be solved using the Gaussian method. Reduce the matrix until the row echelon form.

-R1+ R2 R2

-R1+ R3 R3

-2 R2 + R4 R4

(1/5) R3 R3

4 R3 + R5 R5

(1/5) R4 R4

-3 R4 + R5 R5
Notice that the matrix is in row echelon form because of the zeros in the lower left corner of the matrix.

𝐼1 − 𝐼3 + 𝐼5 = 0

𝐼2 − 𝐼4 − 𝐼5 = 0
1
𝐼3 − 𝐼 = 50
5 5

2
𝐼4 + 5 𝐼5 = 100

−2 𝐼5 = −100

The five currents of the circuits are:

𝐼1 − 𝐼3 + 𝐼5 = 0 𝐼2 − 𝐼4 − 𝐼5 = 0 1 2 −2 𝐼5 = −100
𝐼3 − 𝐼 = 50 𝐼4 + 𝐼 = 100
5 5 5 5
𝐼1 = 𝐼3 − 𝐼5 𝐼2 = 𝐼4 + 𝐼5 −100
1 2 𝐼5 =
𝐼3 = 50 + (50) 𝐼4 = 100 − (50) −2
𝐼1 = 60 − 50 𝐼2 = 80 + 50 5 5
𝑰𝟓 = 𝟓𝟎 𝒎𝑨
𝑰𝟏 = 𝟏𝟎 𝒎𝑨 𝑰𝟐 = 𝟏𝟑𝟎 𝒎𝑨 𝑰𝟑 = 𝟔𝟎 𝒎𝑨 𝑰𝟒 = 𝟖𝟎 𝒎𝑨

The five currents are positive, so the directions chosen at the beginning are correct. The value for the current and voltage
in each resistance are:

Resistance (kΩ) Current (mA) Voltage (V)

R=1 I1 = 10 10

2R= 2 I2 = 130 260

3R = 3 I4 = 80 240

4R = 4 I3 = 60 240

The next link is for an online matrix calculator where you can verify the solutions for the system of equations that you
are trying to solve

https://matrixcalc.org/en/slu.html