Kirchhoff's laws for electrical circuits are based on the conservation of:

There are two types of Kirchoff’s Laws:

Kirchoff’s first law:

• This law is also known as junction rule or current law (KCL). According to it the algebraic sum of currents meeting at a junction is zero i.e. Σ i = 0.

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• In a circuit, at any junction, the sum of the currents entering the junction must be equal to the sum of the currents leaving the junction i.e., i1 + i3 = i2 + i4
• This law is simply a statement of “conservation of charge” as if the current reaching a junction is not equal to the current leaving the junction, the charge will not be conserved.

Kirchoff’s second law:

• This law is also known as loop rule or voltage law (KVL) and according to it “the algebraic sum of the changes in potential in a complete traversal of a mesh (closed-loop) is zero”, i.e. Σ V = 0.
• This law represents “conservation of energy” as if the sum of potential changes around a closed loop is not zero, unlimited energy could be gained by repeatedly carrying a charge around a loop.
• If there are n meshes in a circuit, the number of independent equations in accordance with the loop rule will be (n - 1).

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