The syllabus contains two Sections - A
and 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 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, 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 nonuniform
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 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.
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
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 transferconduction, 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 equipartition 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 applications.
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 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 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.
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.
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. DavissonGermer 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.
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.
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).
SECTION –B
UNIT 21: 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) Determination of internal
resistance of a cell.
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 using parallax
method.
16. 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
(iii) See the unidirectional flow of
current in case of a diode and an LED.(iv) Check the correctness or otherwise of
a given electronic component (diode, transistor or IC)
