MARMARA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

PHYS 1104
PHYSICS LABORATORY II

Kirchhoff’s Laws

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Instructure: Date:

Department Student Id Number Name & Surname

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1. Purpose
To verify Kirchhoff's Laws by comparing voltages obtained from a real circuit to those
predicted by Kirchhoff's Laws.

2. Theory
A simple circuit that is containing more than one resistor can be reduced to an equivalent
circuit containing a single resistance and a single voltage source. On the other hand, many
circuits are not simple and require using Kirchhoff's Laws to determine the voltage and the
current values of each resistance. Kirchhoff defines the Current and Voltage Laws to determine
the current and the voltage of each element of the circuit.

2.1. Current Law

Based on the principle of conservation of charge,
Kirchhoff's Current Law, also known as the junction rule or
nodal rule, states that the charge entering and leaving a junction
in a circuit must be equal (Figure 1). In other words, the
algebraic sum of currents entering and leaving a node (or
junction) in a circuit is zero.

This rule is mathematically expressed as:

Figure 1 Current in and
𝐼=0
out flow in a junction
Σ 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (1)
Σ𝐼𝑖𝑛=Σ𝐼𝑜𝑢𝑡 (2)
i2 + i 3 + i 5 = i 1 + i 4 (3)

2.2. Voltage Law

Kirchhoff's Voltage Law, also known as the loop
rule, which is based on the principle of energy
conservation, states that the total voltage around any
closed loop in a circuit (Figure 2) must be equal to zero.
In simpler terms, the sum of the voltages of all elements
in a closed loop is zero (equation 4).

ΣΔV=0 (4)
Figure 2 Loop for finding voltage
The voltage across between nodes that are
defined as a, b, c, and d according to the direction of the loop is calculated by the rules given in
the subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) of Figure 3.
 Direction of loop Direction of loop

𝑉𝑏−𝑉𝑎=−𝐼𝑅 𝑉𝑎−𝑉𝑏=𝐼𝑅
(a) (b)
Direction of loop Direction of loop

𝑉𝑏−𝑉𝑎=𝑉 𝑉𝑎−𝑉𝑏=−𝑉
(c) (d)
Figure 3 Voltage between nodes according to the direction of the loop
The Kirchhoff’s rules will be applied to the circuit with two loops in the Figure 4.

Figure 4 Circuit diagram for Kirchhoff’s Law.

Applying loop rule for 1. loop gives

𝑉𝑎−𝑉𝑓=−𝑉𝑠1 (9)
𝑉𝑔−𝑉𝑏=−𝑖3𝑅3 (10)
𝑉𝑒−𝑉𝑔=−𝑖3𝑅2 (11)
𝑉𝑓−𝑉𝑒=−𝑖1𝑅1 (12)
Applying equation 4 of loop rule to 1. Loop gives

−𝑉𝑠1−𝑖3𝑅3−𝑖3𝑅2−𝑖1𝑅1=0 (13)
rearranging equation 13 with currents as multiplier

𝑖1𝑅1+𝑖3(𝑅3+𝑅2)=−𝑉𝑠1 (14)
Applying loop rule to 2. Loop

𝑉𝑠2−𝑖3𝑅3−𝑖3𝑅2−𝑖2𝑅4=0 (15)
rearranging equation 15 with currents as multiplier

𝑖2𝑅4+𝑖3(𝑅3+𝑅2)=𝑉𝑠2 (16)
 Applying junction rule to the node b gives

𝑖1+𝑖2=𝑖3 (17)
Using equations (14), (16) and, (17) the values of 3 unknown currents can be calculated (3
equations with 3 unknowns).

Equations (14), (16) and (17) can be solved by converting them into matrix form.

These equations can be converted to matrix elements by rearranging the current values in
the same order as follows:

𝑅1𝑖1+0𝑖2+(𝑅2+𝑅3)𝑖3=−𝑉s1 from equation (14) (18)

0𝑖1+𝑅4𝑖2+(𝑅2+𝑅3)𝑖3=𝑉s2 from equation (16) (19)
𝑖1+𝑖2−𝑖3=0 from equation (17) (20)
The above equations can be written in matrix form as below.

[ ][ ] [ ]
R1 0 R2 + R3 i 1 −V s 1
0 R 4 R2 + R3 i 2 = V s 2 (21)
1 1 −1 i 3 0

The matrix consist of resistance values is defined as coefficient’s matrix R. The current and
voltage matrices are defined as I and V respectively. Then the relation can be defined by

R·I = V (22)
To calculate current inverse of R is multiplied with V

I = R-1·V (23)
The equation 23 is replaced by their matrix form

[][ ][ ]
−1
i1 R1 0 R 2+ R 3 −V s 1
i 2 = 0 R 4 R 2+ R 3 V s2 (24)
i3 1 1 −1 0

The current in the equation 21 can be solved with software such as MATLAB and MS
Excel.

3. Experimental Setup
3.1. Equipment List
1. Board x1
2. Dc voltage source (0 – 30 V with 2 outputs)
3. Digital multimeter x2
4. Connection cables
7. Resistors x 6
4. Procedures
In this experiment, the circuit shown in Figure 5 consist of 6 resistors and two voltage
sources. Calculating voltage and current of this circuit is not simple. Thus, Kirchhoff’s Laws
must be applied to calculate the voltage and the current of each resistors of the circuit.

Figure 5 Circuit diagram of the experiment

Before starting the experiment current and voltage values must be calculated to avoid
damage the resistors in the circuit. The circuit of the experiment is complex. Therefore,
Kirchhoff's laws should be used for calculation. The experiment required to apply steps of the
following subsections, Calculation and Experiment.

4.1. Calculation
1. Write voltage value of the power sources and resistance of each resistor on the Figure 5

2. Calculate the values of the current passing through each resistor in Figure 5 according
to Kirchhoff's Laws.

3. Apply Ohm's Law to calculate the voltage value across each circuit element.

4. Calculate the power on each resistor. If the power is greater than the actual value
changes the low power resistor or decrease the applied voltage.

4.2. Measurement
1. Using the basic electrical experiment set, the 6 resistors, the variable power supply,
and the wire leads; construct the circuit shown in Figure 5.

2. Turn on the power suppliers. Adjust the voltages Vs1 = 3.0 V and Vs2 = 5.0 V.

3. Connect the voltmeter parallel to each of the 6 resistors. Record these 6 values of
voltage in the data table.
 4. Connect the ammeter in series to each of the 6 resistors. Record these 6 values of
current in the data table.

5. Turn the power suppliers of and disconnect the circuit.

5. Analyis
1. For the circuit, use equations 1 and 2 to write a system of linear equations that may be
solved for the current in each branch of the circuit. Then, solve the system to obtain a
theoretical value for each current. Show your work!

2. Using the currents obtained in step 1 of the analysis; apply Ohm's Law to determine the
theoretical voltage across each resistor.

3. Compare the theoretical voltages obtained in step 2 of the analysis to those measured in
the actual circuit.

4. Record the experimental values and calculated theoretical and % errors of the voltages
and currents of each resistor in Table 1.

6. Data Table
Vs1=
Vs2=

Table 1 Experimental and theoretical values of resistors

Resistance % Error % Error
Power Vtheoretical Vexperiment Itheoretical Iexperiment
(Ω) (V) (I)
R1 :

R2 :

R3 :

R4 :

R5 :

R6 :