PHYSICS

SYLLABUS
The syllabus contains two Sections - A & B. Section - A pertains to the
Theory Part, having 80% weightage, while Section - B contains Practical
Component (Experimental Skills) having 20% weightage.

SECTION - A

Unit – I: 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 – II: 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 - III: 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 momentum 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.
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Unit -IV: Work, Energy and Power

Work done by a constant force and a variable force; kinetic and potential
energies, work-energy theorem, power.

Potential energy of a spring, conservation of mechanical energy,

conservative and non-conservative forces; Elastic and inelastic collisions in
one and two dimensions.

Unit – V: Rotational Motion

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 –VI: 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 - VII: 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.
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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 –VIII: 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.

Camot engine and its efficiency.

Unit -IX: Kinetic Theory of Gases

Equation of state of a perfect gas, work done on 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 equipartition of energy, applications to specific heat
capacities of gases; Mean free path, Avogadro's number.

Unit –X: 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.
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Unit - XI: 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 - XII: 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 applications.
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Unit - XIII: 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 current-carrying 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-XIV: 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 – XV: Electromagnetic Waves

Electromagnetic waves and their characteristics. Transverse nature of

electromagnetic waves.
 Electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible,
ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays). Applications of e.m. waves .

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Unit – XVI: 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
magnifying powers.

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-XVII: Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation

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 - XVIII: 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. Radioactivity-alpha, 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.

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Unit – XIX: 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 – XX: 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).

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SECTION –B

Unit – XXI: Experimental Skills

Familiarity with the basic approach and observations of the experiments

and activities:

1. Vernier callipers—its use to measure internal and external diameter

and depth of a vessel
2. Screw gauge—its use to determine thickness/diameter of thin
sheet/wire.
3. Simple Pendulum - dissipation of energy by plotting a graph between
square of amplitude and time.
4. Metre Scale - mass of a given object by principle of moments
5. Young's modulus of elasticity of the material of a metallic wire
6. Surface tension of water by capillary rise and effect of detergents
7. Co-efficient of Viscosity of a given viscous liquid by measuring
terminal velocity of a given spherical body.
8. Plotting a cooling curve for the relationship between the temperature
of a hot body and time.
9. Speed of sound in air at room temperature using a resonance tube.
10. Specific heat capacity of a given (i) solid and (ii) liquid by method of
mixtures.
11. Resistivity of the material of a given wire using metre bridge.
12. Resistance of a given wire using Ohm's law
13. Potentiometer –
(i) Comparison of emf of two primary cells.
(ii) Internal resistance of a cell.

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14. Resistance and figure of merit of a galvanometer by half deflection method.

15. Focal length of:

(i) Convex mirror

(ii) Concave mirror, and
(iii) Convex lens

16.Using parallax method. Plot of angle of deviation vs angle of incidence

for a triangular prism.
17.Refractive index of a glass slab using a travelling microscope
18.Characteristic curves of a p - n junction diode in forward and reverse bias.
19. Characteristic curves of a Zener diode and finding reverse break down voltage.

20. Characteristic curves of a transistor and finding current gain and voltage gain

21. Identification of Diode, LED, Transistor, IC, Resistor, Capacitor from mixed
collection of such items.
22. Using multimeter to:

(i) Identify base of a transistor

(ii) Distinguish between npn and pnp type transistor
(iii) See the unidirectional flow of current in case of a diode and an LED.
Check the correctness or otherwise of a given electronic component
(iv) (diode, transistor or IC).

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