PHYSICS SYLLABUS
UNIT 1: PHYSICS AND MEASUREMENT
Physics, technology and society, S I units, Fundamental and derived units. Least count, accuracy and
precision of measuring instruments, Errors in measurement, Significant figures. Dimensions of Physical
quantities, dimensional analysis and its applications.
UNIT 2: KINEMATICS
Frame of reference. Motion in a straight line: Position time graph, speed and velocity. Uniform and non
uniform motion, average speed and instantaneous velocity Uniformly accelerated motion, velocity-time,
position-time graphs, relations for uniformly accelerated motion. Scalars and Vectors, Vector addition and
Subtraction, Zero Vector, Scalar and Vector products, Unit Vector, Resolution of a Vector. Relative
Velocity, Motion in a plane, Projectile Motion, Uniform Circular Motion.
UNIT 3: LAWS OF MOTION
Force and Inertia, Newton’s First Law of motion; Momentum, Newton’s Second Law of motion; Impulse;
Newton’s Third Law of motion. Law of conservation of linear omentum and its applications, Equilibrium of
concurrent forces. Static and Kinetic friction, laws of friction, rolling friction. Dynamics of uniform circular
motion: Centripetal force and its applications.
UNIT 4: WORK, ENERGY AND POWER
Work done by a constant force and a variable force; kinetic and potential energies, workenergy theorem,
power. Potential energy of a spring, conservation of mechanical energy, conservative and
nonconservative forces; Elastic and inelastic collisions in one and two dimensions.
UNIT 5: ROTATIONAL MOTION
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Centre of mass of a two-particle system, Centre of mass of a rigid body; Basic concepts of rotational
motion; Moment of a force, torque, angular momentum, conservation of angular momentum and its
applications; moment of inertia, radius of gyration. Values of moments of inertia for simple geometrical
objects, parallel and perpendicular axes theorems and their applications. Rigid body rotation, equations of
rotational motion.
UNIT 6: GRAVITATION
The universal law of gravitation. Acceleration due to gravity and its variation with altitude and depth.
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Gravitational potential energy; gravitational potential. Escape velocity.
Orbital velocity of a satellite. Geo-stationary satellites.
UNIT 7: PROPERTIES OF SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS
Elastic behaviour, Stress-strain relationship, Hooke’s Law, Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, modulus of
rigidity. Pressure due to a fluid column; Pascal’s law and its applications. Viscosity, Stokes’ law, terminal
velocity, streamline and turbulent flow, Reynolds number. Bernoulli’s principle and its applications.
Surface energy and surface tension, angle of contact, application of surface tension - drops, bubbles and
capillary rise. Heat, temperature, thermal expansion; specific heat capacity, calorimetry; change of state,
latent heat. Heat transfer-conduction, convection and radiation, Newton’s law of cooling.
UNIT 8: THERMODYNAMICS
Thermal equilibrium, zeroth law of thermodynamics, concept of temperature. Heat, work and internal
energy. First law of thermodynamics. Second law of thermodynamics: reversible and irreversible
processes. Carnot engine and its efficiency.
UNIT 9: KINETIC THEORY OF GASES
Equation of state of a perfect gas, work doneon compressing a gas.Kinetic theory of gases -
assumptions, concept of pressure. Kinetic energy and temperature: rms speed of gas molecules;
Degrees of freedom, Law of equi-partition of energy, applications to specific heat capacities of gases;
Mean free path, Avogadro’s number.
UNIT 10 : OSCILLATIONS AND WAVES
Periodic motion - period, frequency, displacement as a function of time. Periodic functions. Simple
Harmonic Motion (S.H.M.) and its equation; phase; oscillations of a spring -restoring force and force
constant; energy in S.H.M. - kinetic and potential energies; Simple pendulum - derivation of expression
for its time period; Free, forced and damped oscillations, resonance. Wave motion. Longitudinal and
transverse waves, speed of a wave. Displacement relation for a progressive wave. Principle of
superposition of waves, reflection of waves, Standing waves in strings and organ pipes, fundamental
mode and harmonics, Beats, Doppler effect in sound
UNIT 11 : ELECTROSTATICS
Electric charges: Conservation of charge, Coulomb’s law-forces between two point charges, forces
between multiple charges; superposition principle and continuous charge distribution. Electric field:
Electric field due to a point charge, Electric field lines, Electric dipole, Electric field due to a dipole, Torque
on a dipole in a uniform electric field. Electric flux, Gauss’s law and its applications to find field due to
infinitely long uniformly charged straight wire, uniformly charged infinite plane sheet and uniformly
charged thin spherical shell. Electric potential and its calculation for a point charge, electric dipole and
system of charges; Equipotential surfaces, Electrical potential energy of a system of two point charges in
an electrostatic field. Conductors and insulators, Dielectrics and electric polarization, capacitor,
combination of capacitors in series and in parallel, capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with and
without dielectric medium between the plates, Energy stored in a capacitor.
UNIT 12 : CURRRENT ELECTRICITY
Electric current, Drift velocity, Ohm’s law, Electrical resistance, Resistances of different materials, V-I
characteristics of Ohmic and nonohmic conductors, Electrical energy and power, Electrical resistivity,
Colour code for resistors; Series and parallel combinations of resistors; Temperature dependence of
resistance. Electric Cell and its Internal resistance, potential difference and emf of a cell, combination of
cells in series and in parallel. Kirchhoff’s laws and their applications. Wheatstone bridge, Metre bridge.
Potentiometer - principle and its pplications.
UNIT 13: MAGNETIC EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND MAGNETISM
Biot - Savart law and its application to current carrying circular loop. Ampere’s law and its applications to
infinitely long current carrying straight wire and solenoid. Force on a moving charge in uniform magnetic
and electric fields. Cyclotron. Force on a current-carrying conductor in a uniform magnetic field. Force
between two parallel urrentcarrying conductors-definition of ampere. Torque experienced by a current
loop in uniform magnetic field; Moving coil galvanometer, its current sensitivity and conversion to
ammeter and voltmeter. Current loop as a magnetic dipole and its magnetic dipole moment. Bar magnet
as an equivalent solenoid, magnetic field lines; Earth’s magnetic field and magnetic elements. Para-, dia-
and ferro- magnetic substances. Magnetic susceptibility and permeability, Hysteresis, Electromagnets
and permanent magnets.
UNIT 14 : ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND ALTERNATING CURRENTS
Electromagnetic induction; Faraday’s law, induced emf and current; Lenz’s Law, Eddy currents. Self and
mutual inductance. Alternating currents, peak and rms value of alternating current/ voltage; reactance and
impedance; LCR series circuit, resonance; Quality factor, power in AC circuits, wattless current. AC
generator and transformer.
UNIT 15 : ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
Electromagnetic waves and their characteristics. Transverse nature of electromagnetic waves.
Electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, Xrays, gamma rays).
Applications of e.m. waves.
UNIT 16 : OPTICS
Reflection and refraction of light at plane and spherical surfaces, mirror formula, Total internal reflection
and its applications, Deviation and Dispersion of light by a prism, Lens Formula, Magnification, Power of a
Lens, Combination of thin lenses in contact, Microscope and Astronomical Telescope (reflecting and
refracting) and their magnifyingpowers. Wave optics: wavefront and Huygens’ principle, Laws of reflection
and refraction using Huygen’s principle. Interference, Young’s double slit experiment and expression for
fringe width, coherent sources and sustained interference of light. Diffraction due to a single slit, width of
central maximum. Resolving power of microscopes and astronomical telescopes, Polarisation, plane
polarized light; Brewster’s law, uses of plane polarized light and Polaroids.
UNIT 17 : DUAL NATURE OF MATTER ANDRADIATION
Dual nature of radiation. Photoelectric effect, Hertz and Lenard’s observations; Einstein’s photoelectric
equation; particle nature of light. Matter waves-wave nature of particle, de Broglie relation. Davisson-
Germer experiment.
UNIT 18 : ATOMS AND NUCLEI
Alpha-particle scattering experiment; Rutherford’s model of atom; Bohr model, energy levels, hydrogen
spectrum. Composition and size of nucleus, atomic masses, isotopes, isobars; isotones.
Radioactivityalpha, beta and gamma particles/rays and their properties; radioactive decay law. Mass-
energy relation, mass defect; binding energy per nucleon and its variation with mass number, nuclear
fission and fusion.
UNIT 19 : ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Semiconductors; semiconductor diode: I-V characteristics in forward and reverse bias; diode as a rectifier;
I-V characteristics of LED, photodiode, solar cell and Zener diode; Zener diode as a voltage regulator.
Junction transistor, transistor action, characteristics of a transistor; transistor as an amplifier (common
emitter configuration) and oscillator. Logic gates (OR, AND, NOT, NAND and NOR). Transistor as a
switch.
UNIT 20 : COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Propagation of electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere; Sky and space wave propagation, Need for
modulation, Amplitude and Frequency Modulation, Bandwidth of signals, Bandwidth of Transmission
medium, Basic Elements of a Communication System (Block Diagram only).
