Applying Kirchhoff’s Current Law
Kirchhoff’s second law is called his current law and states: "At any junction point in a circuit, the current arriving is equal to the current leaving." Thus, if 15 amperes…
Applying Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
Kirchhoff’s first law is also known as his "voltage law." The voltage law gives the relationship between the "voltage drops" around any closed loop in a circuit, and the voltage…
Kirchhoff’s Laws
Kirchhoff’s two laws reveal a unique relationship between current, voltage, and resistance in electrical circuits that is vital to performing and understanding electrical circuit analysis. Kirchhoff’s Laws In all of…
Voltage Polarity and Current Direction
Before understanding the laws associated with complex DC circuit analysis, the importance of voltage polarity and current direction must be understood. This article will introduce the polarities and current direction…
Current Division
Sometimes it is necessary to find the individual branch currents in a parallel circuit when only resistance and total current are known. When only two branches are involved, the current…
Voltage Divider
A voltage divider, or network, is used when it is necessary to obtain different values of voltage from a single energy source. A simple voltage divider is shown in Figure…
Simplified Formulas for Parallel Circuit Resistance Calculations
Total resistance of equal resistors in a parallel circuit is equal to the resistance of one resistor divided by the number of resistors. where RT = total resistance R =…
Resistance in Parallel Circuits
Total resistance in a parallel circuit can be found by applying Ohm’s Law. Divide the voltage across the parallel resistance by the total line current as shown in below equation.…
Parallel Circuit Current Calculations
The sum of the currents flowing through each branch of a parallel circuit is equal to the total current flow in the circuit. Using Ohm’s Law, the branch current for…
Series Resistance
The total resistance in a series circuit is equal to the sum of all the parts of that circuit, as shown in below equation. RT =R1 +R2 +R3 ...  …
