What is Kirchhoff's Voltage Law (KVL)?

Kirchhoff's Voltage Law states that the sum of the electric potential differences (voltages) around any closed loop in a circuit must equal zero. This principle reflects the conservation of energy within electrical circuits. When you travel around a closed loop, the energy supplied by sources (like batteries) is equal to the energy used by components (like resistors, capacitors, etc.) within that loop.

In practical terms, this means that if you add up all the voltage rises and drops as you go around the loop, they will cancel each other out—resulting in a total of zero. This law is crucial for analyzing circuits with multiple components and ensures that energy is conserved as it flows through the system.

Understanding this law allows one to apply it to determine unknown voltages and understand the behavior of electrical circuits. Other options do not describe this fundamental concept correctly; for example, one refers to current rather than voltage, which pertains to Kirchhoff's Current Law, while others describe concepts unrelated to KVL specifically.