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Kirchhoff Loop and Junction Rules

Write one current-balance equation at a junction and one voltage-balance equation around a loop on the same bounded grouped circuit, then see those equations match the live branch currents and drops.

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Explanation

Kirchhoff's rules are bookkeeping rules for one real circuit, not a second subject pasted on top of circuit ideas. The junction rule says current is conserved where a path splits or recombines, and the loop rule says the algebraic sum of voltage rises and drops around any closed loop is zero.

This module stays intentionally bounded to one outer resistor and one highlighted two-resistor group. In the parallel case, that group gives you one true junction and two branch loops. In the series case, the split disappears and the same current keeps crossing every resistor. That is enough to make loop balance, current conservation, and sign convention feel concrete without turning the page into a general circuit solver.

Key ideas

01At a junction, the current going in must equal the current going out, so in the parallel grouped case the live split obeys I_total = I_2 + I_3.
02Around any closed loop, treat rises and drops with one consistent sign convention and the algebraic sum stays zero.
03Kirchhoff's rules do not replace Ohm's law. They work with V = IR to turn the same live currents and drops into solvable equations.

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