Kirchhoff's laws (redirected from Kirchhoff's law)

Kirchhoff's laws

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(Physics / General Physics) two laws describing the flow of currents in electric circuits. The first states that the algebraic sum of all the electric currents meeting at any point in a circuit is zero. The second states that in a closed loop of a circuit the algebraic sum of the products of the resistances and the currents flowing through them is equal to the algebraic sum of all the electromotive forces acting in the loop

[after G. R. Kirchoff (1824-87), German physicist]

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Kirchhoff's laws - (physics) two laws governing electric networks in which steady currents flow: the sum of all the currents at a point is zero and the sum of the voltage gains and drops around any closed circuit is zero law of nature, law - a generalization that describes recurring facts or events in nature; "the laws of thermodynamics" natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics"