Q.Kirchhoff's junction rule is a reflection of
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →Kirchhoff's junction rule, , is a direct consequence of conservation of charge applied in steady state at a point — and 'charge is conserved at the junction' and 'no charge accumulates at the junction' are the same statement said two ways. Both (b) and (d) are correct; (a) and (c) are not.
Why the rule exists
A junction is just a point where several wires meet. In steady-state current flow, the charge sitting at that point cannot be changing with time — if it were, the junction would be continuously gaining or losing charge forever, which never happens once currents settle down. So
Since current is charge per unit time, . Setting this to zero gives exactly Kirchhoff's junction rule:
Evaluating each option
- (a) Wrong. There is no general law that the current density vector is conserved through a junction — different branches can have different cross-sectional areas and different magnitudes/directions; it is the current (the integral of over area, i.e. charge/time), not itself, that balances.
- (b) Correct. This is the underlying physical law: electric charge can neither be created nor destroyed, so it cannot pile up at a junction — hence . …
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