Kirchhoff's Current Law (Node)

Electrical Engineering

How It Works

Kirchhoff's Current Law (KCL) is a direct consequence of the fundamental principle of electric charge conservation applied to lumped electrical circuits. At any circuit junction or node, the algebraic sum of all electric currents entering and exiting the node must equal zero at every instant in time. Because the node possesses negligible capacitance and cannot accumulate net electrostatic charge, the total rate of charge arrival must precisely equal the total rate of charge departure.

Governing Equation
∑ₖ Iₖ = 0  ⇒  I₁ + I₂ = I₃ + I₄ + I₅   |   dQ_node / dt = 0