Electric charges and their conservation.
Coulomb’s law – force 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, statement of Gauss’s theorem and
its applications to find field due to infinitely long
straight wire, uniformly charged infinite plane
sheet and uniformly charged thin spherical shell (field inside and
outside).
Electric potential, potential difference,
electric potential due to a point charge, a dipole and system of
charges; equipotential surfaces, electrical
potential energy of a system of two point charges and of electric dipoles
in an electrostatic field.
Conductors and insulators, free charges and
bound charges inside a conductor. Dielectrics and electric polarization,
capacitors and capacitance, 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, Van de Graaff generator.
Unit II: Current
Electricity
Electric current, flow of electric charges in a
metallic conductor, drift velocity and mobility, and their
relation with electric current; Ohm’s law,
electrical resistance, V-I characteristics (linear and
non-linear), electrical energy and power, electrical resistivity and
conductivity.
Carbon resistors, colour code for carbon
resistors; series and parallel combinations of resistors;
temperature dependence of
resistance. Internal resistance of a cell, potential difference and emf of
a cell, combination of cells in series and in parallel. Kirchhoff ’s
laws and simple applications. Wheatstone bridge, metre bridge.
Potentiometer – principle and applications to
measure potential difference, and for comparing emf of
two cells; measurement of internal resistance of
a cell.
Unit III: Magnetic
Effects of Current and Magnetism
Concept of magnetic field, Oersted’s experiment.
Biot – Savart law and its application to current
carrying circular loop.
Ampere’s law and its applications to infinitely
long straight wire, straight and toroidal solenoids. 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 currentcarrying conductors –
definition of ampere. Torque experienced by a current loop in a 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. Magnetic dipole moment of a
revolving electron. Magnetic field intensity due
to a magnetic dipole (bar magnet) along its axis and
perpendicular to its axis. Torque on a magnetic
dipole (bar magnet) in a uniform magnetic field; bar magnet as an
equivalent solenoid, magnetic field lines; Earth’s magnetic field and magnetic
elements.
Para-, dia- and ferro – magnetic substances, with
examples.
Electromagnets and factors affecting their
strengths. Permanent magnets.
Unit IV:
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; LC oscillations
(qualitative treatment only), LCR series circuit, resonance; power in AC
circuits, wattless current. AC generator and transformer.
Unit V:
Electromagnetic Waves
Need for displacement current.
Electromagnetic waves and their characteristics
(qualitative ideas only). Transverse nature of
electromagnetic waves.
Electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves,
microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma
rays) including elementary facts about their
uses.
Unit VI: Optics
Reflection of light, spherical mirrors, mirror
formula. Refraction of light, total internal reflection and its
applications, optical fibres, refraction at
spherical surfaces, lenses, thin lens formula, lens-maker’s formula.
Magnification, power of a lens, combination of
thin lenses in contact combination of a lens and a mirror.
Refraction and dispersion of light through a
prism.
Scattering of light – blue colour of the sky and
reddish appearance of the sun at sunrise and sunset.
Optical instruments: Human eye, image formation
and accommodation, correction of eye defects
(myopia and hypermetropia) using lenses.
Microscopes and astronomical telescopes
(reflecting and refracting) and their magnifying powers.
Wave optics: Wavefront and Huygens’ principle,
reflection and refraction of plane wave at a plane
surface using wavefronts.
Proof of laws of reflection and refraction using
Huygens’ principle.
Interference, Young’s double hole 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 polarised light;
Brewster’s law, uses of plane polarised light
and Polaroids.
Unit VII: Dual Nature
of Matter and Radiation
Photoelectric effect, Hertz and Lenard’s
observations; Einstein’s photoelectric equation – particle
nature of light.
Matter waves – wave nature of particles, de
Broglie relation. Davisson-Germer experiment
(experimental details should be omitted; only
conclusion should be explained.)
Unit VIII: 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 IX: Electronic
Devices
Energy bands in solids (qualitative ideas only),
conductors, insulators and 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,9
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 X: Communication Systems
Elements of a communication system (block
diagram only); bandwidth of signals (speech, TV and
digital data); bandwidth of transmission medium.
Propagation of electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere,
sky and space wave propagation. Need for
modulation. Production and detection of an amplitude-modulated
wave.