Description

Unit I: Physical World and Measurement (Periods 10)
Physics: Scope and excitement; nature of physical laws; Physics, technology and society.
Need for measurement: Units of measurement; systems of units; SI units, fundamental and derived
units. Length, mass and time measurements; accuracy and precision of measuring instruments;
errors in measurement; significant figures.
Dimensions of physical quantities, dimensional analysis and its applications.
Unit II: Kinematics (Periods 30)
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 and position-time graphs, relations for uniformly
accelerated motion (graphical treatment).
Elementary concepts of differentiation and integration for describing motion.
Scalar and vector quantities: Position and displacement vectors, general vectors and notation,
equality of vectors, multiplication of vectors by a real number; addition and subtraction of
vectors. Relative velocity.
Unit vectors. Resolution of a vector in a plane – rectangular components. Motion in a plane.
Cases of uniform velocity and uniform acceleration – projectile motion. Uniform circular motion.
Unit III: Laws of Motion (Periods 16)
Intuitive concept of force. Inertia, Newton’s first law of motion; momentum and 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, lubrication.
Dynamics of uniform circular motion: Centripetal force, examples of circular motion (vehicle on
level circular road, vehicle on banked road).
Unit IV: Work, Energy and Power (Periods 16)
Scalar product of vectors. Work done by a constant force and a variable force; kinetic energy,
work-energy theorem, power.
Notion of potential energy, potential energy of a spring, conservative forces; conservation
of mechanical energy (kinetic and potential energies); non-conservative forces; elastic and inelastic
collisions in one and two dimensions.
Unit V: Motion of System of Particles and Rigid Body (Periods 18)
Centre of mass of a two-particle system, momentum conservation and centre of mass motion.
Centre of mass of a rigid body; centre of mass of circular ring, disc, rod and sphere.
Vector product of vectors; moment of a force, torque, angular momentum, conservation
of angular momentum with some examples.

Equilibrium of rigid bodies, rigid body rotation and equation of rotational motion, comparison
of linear and rotational motions; moment of inertia, radius of gyration. Values of M.I. for
simple geometrical objects (no derivation). Statement of parallel and perpendicular axes theorems
and their applications.
Unit VI: Gravitation (Periods 14)
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. The universal law of gravitation.
Acceleration due to gravity and its variation with altitude and depth.
Gravitational potential energy; gravitational potential. Escape speed, orbital velocity of a
satellite. Geostationary satellites.
Unit VII: Properties of Bulk Matter (Periods 28)
Elastic behaviour, Stress-strain relationship, Hooke’s law, Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, shear,
modulus of rigidity.
Pressure due to a fluid column; Pascal’s law and its applications (hydraulic lift and hydraulic
brakes). Effect of gravity on fluid pressure.
Viscosity, Stokes’ law, terminal velocity, Reynold’s number, streamline and turbulent flow.
Bernoulli’s theorem and its applications.
Surface energy and surface tension, angle of contact, application of surface tension ideas to
drops, bubbles and capillary rise.
Heat, temperature, thermal expansion; specific heat capacity – calorimetry; change of state –
latent heat.
Heat transfer – conduction, convection and radiation, thermal conductivity, Newton’s law of cooling.
Unit VIII: Thermodynamics (Periods 12)
Thermal equilibrium and definition of temperature (zeroth law of thermodynamics). Heat, work
and internal energy. First law of thermodynamics.
Second law of thermodynamics: Reversible and irreversible processes. Heat engines and refrigerators.
Unit IX: Behaviour of Perfect Gas and Kinetic Theory (Periods 8)
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 (statement only) and
application to specific heat capacities of gases; concept of mean free path, Avogadro’s number.
Unit X: Oscillations and Waves (Periods 28)
Periodic motion – period, frequency, displacement as a function of time. Periodic functions. Simple
harmonic motion (SHM) and its equation; phase; oscillations of a spring – restoring force and force
constant; energy in SHM – kinetic and potential energies; simple pendulum – derivation of expression
for its time period; free, forced and damped oscillations (qualitative ideas only), resonance.
Wave motion. Longitudinal and transverse waves, speed of wave motion. 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.