1Rotational DynamicsRotation treated the way translation already was: an angular set of the equations of motion, moment of inertia in place of mass, torque in place of force, and angular momentum conserved when no external torque acts.Board exam — Mechanics, 13 marks across 3 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Equations of angular motion and their link to linear kinematics
Moment of inertia and radius of gyration
Moment of inertia of a uniform rod, ring, disc and sphere
Torque and angular acceleration of a rigid body
Kinetic energy of a rotating and of a rolling body
Angular momentum, angular impulse and conservation of angular momentum
Work and power in rotational motion
7 topics
2Periodic MotionSimple harmonic motion from its defining condition to its energy, and the three standard systems that obey it — the simple pendulum, the loaded spring and the floating body — followed by damping, forcing and resonance.Board exam — Mechanics, 13 marks across 3 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Simple harmonic motion: equation, velocity, acceleration and time period
Energy in SHM and its variation with displacement
Simple pendulum
Oscillation of a mass loaded on a spring, horizontal and vertical
Angular SHM and oscillation of a floating cylinder
Damped oscillation, forced oscillation and resonance
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3Fluid StaticsFluids at rest and in steady flow: pressure and upthrust, the surface effects that capillarity and bubbles depend on, viscosity and terminal velocity, and the two conservation statements — continuity and Bernoulli — that explain the rest.Board exam — Mechanics, 13 marks across 3 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Pressure in a fluid; Pascal's law
Upthrust and Archimedes' principle
Surface tension, surface energy, angle of contact and capillary rise
Excess pressure inside a liquid drop and a soap bubble
Viscosity, coefficient of viscosity and Poiseuille's formula
Stokes' law and terminal velocity
Equation of continuity
Bernoulli's equation and its applications
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4First Law of ThermodynamicsEnergy conservation written for a gas: the work an expanding gas does, the two heat capacities and why they differ, and the four standard processes traced on a p–V diagram.Board exam — Heat and Thermodynamics, 7 marks across 2 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Thermodynamic system, state variables and thermodynamic equilibrium
Work done by an expanding gas and the p–V diagram
Heat capacities of a gas at constant volume and constant pressure
Relation between Cp and Cv (Mayer's relation)
Isothermal and adiabatic processes
Isochoric and isobaric processes
First law of thermodynamics and its applications
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5Second Law of ThermodynamicsWhy energy conservation alone is not enough: the direction heat actually flows, the engine that cannot be beaten, and the refrigerator that is the same machine run backwards.Board exam — Heat and Thermodynamics, 7 marks across 2 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Statements of the second law — Kelvin–Planck and Clausius
Heat engine and its efficiency
Carnot cycle and the Carnot engine
Refrigerator and coefficient of performance
Entropy as a measure of disorder
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6Wave MotionWhat a wave is before any particular wave: the progressive wave equation, the difference between transverse and longitudinal, and the superposition principle that everything in this area is built on.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Progressive waves and the wave equation y = a sin(ωt − kx)
Wave velocity, frequency, wavelength and their relation
Transverse and longitudinal waves
Principle of superposition of waves
Energy and intensity of a wave
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7Mechanical WavesThe speed of a mechanical wave and what sets it — tension and mass per unit length in a string, and in a gas the correction Laplace had to make to Newton's formula before it agreed with measurement.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Speed of a transverse wave in a stretched string
Speed of sound in a solid, a liquid and a gas
Newton's formula for the velocity of sound and Laplace's correction
Effect of temperature, pressure and humidity on the velocity of sound
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8Wave in Pipes and StringsStanding waves where they are actually heard: closed and open organ pipes, their harmonics and overtones, and the stretched string whose laws the sonometer verifies.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Stationary waves and the distance between consecutive nodes
Stationary waves in a closed pipe: fundamental and overtones
Stationary waves in an open pipe: fundamental and overtones
End correction
Velocity of sound by the resonance tube
Vibration of a stretched string and the laws of transverse vibration
Sonometer
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9Acoustic PhenomenaHow a sound is described rather than propagated — intensity, loudness, pitch and quality — and the two interference effects a listener notices directly: beats, and the Doppler shift of a source that is moving.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Intensity, loudness, pitch and quality of sound
Intensity level and the decibel scale
Beats and beat frequency
Doppler effect: source moving, observer moving, and both
Applications and limitations of the Doppler effect
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10Nature and Propagation of LightLight treated as a wave: Huygens' construction, and the reflection and refraction laws recovered from it — which is what makes the interference and diffraction that follow possible at all.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Huygens' principle and the construction of a wavefront
Types of wavefront — spherical, cylindrical and plane
Reflection of a plane wavefront at a plane surface
Refraction of a plane wavefront at a plane surface
Velocity of light and its measurement
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11InterferenceTwo coherent sources and what their overlap looks like: the conditions for a bright and a dark fringe, Young's experiment, and the fringe width that makes the wavelength measurable.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Coherent sources and the conditions for sustained interference
Constructive and destructive interference; path difference
Young's double slit experiment
Fringe width and the measurement of wavelength
Intensity distribution in interference
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12DiffractionWhat happens when a wave meets an edge — Fresnel and Fraunhofer classes, the single slit pattern, and the grating that turns diffraction into a measuring instrument.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Diffraction of light and its types — Fresnel and Fraunhofer
Diffraction at a single slit and the position of the minima
Diffraction grating and the grating equation
Determination of wavelength using a grating
Resolving power of an optical instrument
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13PolarizationThe one property that proves light is a TRANSVERSE wave: plane polarization, the angle at which reflection polarizes completely, and the polaroids that use it.Board exam — Wave and Optics, 15 marks across 8 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Plane polarized light and the plane of polarization
Polarization by reflection and Brewster's law
Polarization by refraction and by scattering
Polaroids and their applications
Malus' law
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14Electrical CircuitsCircuits that Ohm's law alone cannot solve: Kirchhoff's two laws, and the three null-point instruments — Wheatstone bridge, metre bridge and potentiometer — that measure without drawing current at balance.Board exam — Electricity and Magnetism, 21 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Kirchhoff's current law and voltage law
Wheatstone bridge and its balanced condition
Metre bridge and the measurement of resistance
Potentiometer: comparison of emf of two cells
Potentiometer: measurement of internal resistance
Superconductors and their properties
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15Thermoelectric EffectsAn emf produced by temperature alone: the Seebeck effect, the parabola of thermo-emf against hot-junction temperature with its neutral and inversion temperatures, and the Peltier and Thomson effects beside it.Board exam — Electricity and Magnetism, 21 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Seebeck effect and the thermocouple
Variation of thermo-emf with the temperature of the hot junction
Neutral temperature and temperature of inversion
Peltier effect and Thomson effect
Thermopile and its uses
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16Magnetic FieldThe field a current makes and the force it exerts: Biot–Savart and Ampere's laws with their standard applications, the force between parallel conductors that defines the ampere, and the instruments built from a torque on a loop.Board exam — Electricity and Magnetism, 21 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Magnetic field lines and magnetic flux; Oersted's experiment
Force on a moving charge in a magnetic field
Force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field
Biot–Savart law and the field of a circular coil
Ampere's circuital law and the field of a straight conductor and a solenoid
Force between two parallel current-carrying conductors; definition of the ampere
Torque on a rectangular current loop and the moving coil galvanometer
Hall effect
Cyclotron
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17Magnetic Properties of MaterialsWhy a material changes the field inside it: magnetizing field and magnetization, the susceptibility and permeability that relate them, and the three classes of material the relation sorts substances into.Board exam — Electricity and Magnetism, 21 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Magnetic intensity, magnetization, permeability and susceptibility
Relation between relative permeability and susceptibility
Diamagnetic, paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials
Hysteresis and the hysteresis loop
Choice of magnetic material for a permanent magnet and for a transformer core
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18Electromagnetic InductionA changing flux makes an emf, and Lenz's law fixes its direction — from which follow the generator, self and mutual inductance, the energy an inductor stores, and the transformer.Board exam — Electricity and Magnetism, 21 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Magnetic flux and Faraday's laws of electromagnetic induction
Lenz's law and conservation of energy
Induced emf in a coil rotating in a uniform magnetic field; AC generator
Self-inductance and mutual inductance
Energy stored in an inductor
Transformer and its efficiency
Eddy currents and their applications
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19Alternating CurrentsCurrent that reverses: peak and rms values, the phase each component introduces on its own, and the series LCR circuit where impedance, phase angle and resonance follow from combining them.Board exam — Electricity and Magnetism, 21 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Peak value, rms value and mean value of alternating current
AC through a pure resistor, a pure inductor and a pure capacitor
Reactance and impedance
Series LCR circuit: impedance and phase angle
Resonance in a series LCR circuit and the quality factor
Power in an AC circuit and the power factor
6 topics
20ElectronsMeasuring the electron itself: Millikan's drop held still to find its charge, and Thomson's crossed fields to find its specific charge.Board exam — Modern Physics, 19 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Millikan's oil drop experiment and the quantization of charge
Motion of an electron beam in an electric field
Motion of an electron beam in a magnetic field
Thomson's experiment for the specific charge (e/m) of an electron
4 topics
21PhotonsLight delivered in packets: the photoelectric effect that the wave picture cannot explain, Einstein's equation, and the threshold and stopping potential that make it measurable.Board exam — Modern Physics, 19 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Quantum nature of radiation and the photon
Photoelectric effect and its laws
Einstein's photoelectric equation
Threshold frequency, threshold wavelength and work function
Stopping potential and Millikan's verification
Photocell and its applications
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22Semiconductor DevicesFrom doped silicon to a working circuit: the p–n junction and what bias does to it, rectification, the transistor as an amplifier, and the logic gates built on top.Board exam — Modern Physics, 19 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors; p-type and n-type
p–n junction diode; forward and reverse bias
Half-wave rectification
Full-wave rectification using two diodes and a bridge
Zener diode and voltage regulation
Transistor: characteristics and action as an amplifier
Logic gates — AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR — with symbols and truth tables
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23Quantization of EnergyEnergy that comes only in allowed amounts: Bohr's hydrogen atom with its radius, velocity and energy for the nth orbit, the spectral series it predicts, and the wave-particle ideas — de Broglie, Heisenberg — that replaced it.Board exam — Modern Physics, 19 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Bohr's theory of the hydrogen atom and its postulates
Radius, velocity and energy of an electron in the nth orbit
Energy level diagram and the spectral series of hydrogen
de Broglie hypothesis and matter waves
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle
X-rays: production, properties and uses
X-ray diffraction and Bragg's law
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24Radioactivity and Nuclear ReactionThe unstable nucleus: three radiations and what each is, the exponential decay law with its constant and half life, and the mass that becomes energy in fission and fusion.Board exam — Modern Physics, 19 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Alpha, beta and gamma radiations and their properties
Laws of radioactive disintegration; decay constant
Half life and mean life
The decay equation N = N₀e^(−λt)
Radioactive dating and carbon dating
Mass defect and binding energy per nucleon
Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion
Nuclear reactor and radiation hazards
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25Recent Trends in PhysicsWhere physics currently stands: the particles matter is actually made of, the four forces, the expanding universe — and the physics of the Earth beneath it, including how an earthquake is located.Board exam — Modern Physics, 19 marks across 6 chaptersView topicsHide topics
Elementary particles: quarks, leptons and hadrons
The four fundamental forces of nature
The universe: Big Bang theory and Hubble's law
Physics of the Earth: internal structure and seismic waves
Focus (hypocentre), epicentre and the location of an earthquake
