20.3: Kirchhoff’s Rules

Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL) explained in 2 minutes. KVL was first introduced in 1847 by the German physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, and it is a direct consequence of the law of conservation of energy. KVL states that the algebraic sum of all voltages around any closed path (or loop) must equal zero. In other words, the sum of voltage rises must be equal to the sum of voltage drops. Coupled with Ohm’s Law, Kirchhoff’s laws (KCL and KVL) allow us to solve most electric circuits, i.e, determine