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Shubham Soni

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Course Content

1.1 AIM: To verify Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL) and study its limitations.

1.2 APPARATUS REQUIRED:

pic3.jpg

Table.1 List of apparatus

1.3 THEORY:
Kirchhoff’s laws are used to determine the current and voltage in different branches of an electric circuit
which may not be easily solved by Ohm’s law. These laws are applicable to both AC and DC circuits.

1.3.1 Statement of Kirchhoff’s First Law or Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL) or Point Law:

It states that the algebraic sum of all the currents meeting at a junction or a node in any electric circuit
at any instant is zero.

1.3.2 Explanation:

Kirchhoff's Current Law. Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL) is Kirchhoff's first law that deals with the
conservation of charge entering and leaving a junction. The current law states that for a parallel path the
total current entering a circuits junction is exactly equal to the total current leaving the same junction

kcl.jpg
Fig 1: Explanation of KCL

From above diagram we can such as:

i1+i2+i6 = i3i+i4+i5

1.4 LIMITATIONS:

1.4.1 Not applicable in stray currents environment and in high frequency applications (even KCL is
violated at 60 Hz

frequency).

1.4.2 Not applicable to circuit having distributed elements.

1.5 PRECAUTIONS:
1.5.1 Switch off the supply first and then start making connections.

1.5.2 Meters of suitable range should be used

1.6 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:

circuit diagram KCL.JPG

1.7 PROCEDURE:

1. The circuit is connected as shown in Fig.2.

2. The voltage of DC supply was set at 12 V.

3. Different values of R1 to R6 were taken and readings of A1 to A6 were noted down.

4. Accordingly, only one set of reading was taken at 12 V DC supply.

1.8 OBSERVATION TABLE:

TABLE 2 KCL.JPG

Table.2 Observation table

1.9 CALCULATIONS:

Applying KCL at junction B:

KCL EQUATION 1.JPG

Applying KCL at junction C:

KCL EQUATION 2.JPG

Calculations are done for all the readings being taken using Equations (2) and (3) to be applied at
respective junctions.

1.10 SOURCES OF ERROR:

1. Internal resistance of DC battery.

2. Internal resistance of multimeter viz. voltmeter and ammeter.

3. Internal resistance of connecting wires.

4. Heating effect of rheostat coil (Joule’s law of electric heating)

5. All the sources of error related to multimeter.

1.11 RESULT;

As per Kirchhoff’s Current Law, the theoretical and calculated values of algebraic sum of currents are
compared as shown in Table 3.
TABLE 3 KCL.JPG

Table.3 Table of calculated values

1.12 CONCLUSION:

The difference in comparison of theoretical and calculated values should be analyzed and resulting
difference if any, in both sets of readings is likely due to various sources of error mentioned. From Table
3, it is seen that error involved is very small and thus, KCL is verified.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Give reasons why the ammeter is always connected in series with the supply?

In what cases, Kirchhoff’s laws are not applicable to DC circuits.

Can Kirchhoff’s laws be applicable to AC circuits?

Can we apply Kirchhoff’s laws in non-linear circuits?

REFERENCES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shFopYgNvoM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56fIDi-AwY4