SWhat changed
Kirchhoff states and derives steady-circuit junction and loop relations: current balances at a junction, and signed resistance drops around a closed path equal the electromotive forces on that path.
Scientific scope
Kirchhoff states and derives steady-circuit junction and loop relations: current balances at a junction, and signed resistance drops around a closed path equal the electromotive forces on that path. The assessed delta is the two relations on pages 513-514 of the 1845 paper, within its steady galvanic, resistive-wire and localized-source model. Junction balance uses absence of charge accumulation; loop balance uses the source and potential conventions stated in the original. It does not automatically cover arbitrary changing magnetic flux, distributed high-frequency circuits or all later component models. The preceding circular thin-disk theory is context, not a claim of a completely validated disk-resistance formula. Small contacts and approximate end conditions are explicit, and page 512 says the attempted total-resistance experiment was too uncertain to decide for or against theory. The unread 1846 supplement is a separate follow-up; later formulas are not absorbed here. Ohm and earlier balance constructions remain prior work.
Evidence
Source-linked, scoped account of the original work. The published scope states the scientific assumptions and remaining verification limits. WRS has not independently certified the full proof, experimental result or system benchmark.
Contributors
- Gustav Robert Kirchhoff · SCIENCE: Original source-listed scientific author of this scoped work; byline does not determine effort fractions.
- Studiosus Kirchhoff, Ueber den Durchgang eines elektrischen Stromes durch eine Ebene, insbesondere durch eine kreisfoermige (1845), original facsimile
- Wikisource author and work index for Gustav Robert Kirchhoff: the 1845, 1846 and 1847 electrical papers
Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.
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