Unit I: Electrostatics

• Electric charges and their conservation
• Coulomb’s law
• Force between two point charges
• Forces between multiple charges
• Superposition principle
• 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
• Applications to find electric field due to:
• Infinitely long straight wire
• Uniformly charged infinite plane sheet
• 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 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 parallel
• Capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with and without dielectric medium
• 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
• 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 parallel
• Kirchhoff’s laws
• Simple applications
• Wheatstone bridge
• Metre Bridge
• Potentiometer
• Principle and applications to measure potential difference and compare emf of two cells
• Measurement of internal resistance of a cell

Unit III: Magnetic Effects of Current and Magnetism

• Magnetic field
• Concept, Oersted’s experiment
• Biot-Savart law and its application to current-carrying circular loop
• Ampere’s law
• Applications to:
• Infinitely long straight wire
• Straight and toroidal solenoids
• Force on a moving charge
• In uniform magnetic and electric fields
• Cyclotron
• Force between two parallel current-carrying conductors
• Ampere’s definition
• Torque on a current loop
• In a magnetic field
• Moving coil galvanometer
• Current sensitivity
• Conversion to ammeter and voltmeter
• Magnetic dipole moment
• Current loop as a magnetic dipole
• Magnetic dipole moment of a revolving electron
• Magnetic field intensity due to a magnetic dipole
• Along its axis and perpendicular to its axis
• Torque on a magnetic dipole
• In a uniform magnetic field
• Bar magnet as an equivalent solenoid
• Magnetic field lines
• Earth’s magnetic field
• Magnetic elements
• Para-, dia-, and ferromagnetic substances- Examples
• Electromagnets
• 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
• Reactance and impedance
• LC oscillations (qualitative treatment only)
• LCR series circuit
• Resonance
• Power in AC circuits
• Wattless current
• AC generator
• Transformer

Unit V: Electromagnetic Waves

• Displacement current
• Need for displacement current
• Electromagnetic waves
• Characteristics (qualitative ideas only)
• Transverse nature
• Electromagnetic spectrum
• Radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays
• Uses

Unit VI: Optics

• Reflection of light
• Spherical mirrors
• Mirror formula
• Refraction of light
• Total internal reflection
• Optical fibres
• Refraction at spherical surfaces
• Lenses
• Thin lens formula
• Lens maker’s formula
• Magnification
• Power of a lens
• Combination of thin lenses
• Combination of a lens and a mirror
• Refraction and dispersion of light through a prism
• Scattering of light
• Blue colour of the sky
• 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
• Astronomical telescopes (reflecting and refracting) and their magnifying powers
• Wave optics
• Wave front and Huygens’ Principle
• Reflection and refraction of plane wave at a plane surface using wave fronts
• Proof of laws of reflection and refraction using Huygens’ Principle
• Interference
• Young’s double-slit experiment
• Expression for fringe width
• Coherent sources
• Sustained interference of light
• Diffraction
• Diffraction due to a single slit
• Width of central maximum
• Resolving power of microscopes and astronomical telescopes
• Polarization
• Plane polarized light
• Brewster’s law
• Uses of plane polarized 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
• Conclusion

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
• Properties
• Radioactive decay law
• Mass-energy relation
• Mass defect
• Binding energy per nucleon
• Variation with mass number
• Nuclear fission and fusion

Unit IX: Electronic Devices

• Energy bands in solids
• 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
• Transistor action
• Characteristics of a transistor
• Transistor as an amplifier (common emitter configuration) and oscillator
• Logic gates
• OR, AND, NOT, NAND, and NOR gates
• Transistor as a switch

Unit X: Communication Systems

• Elements of a communication system
• Block diagram
• Bandwidth of signals
• Speech, TV, and digital data
• Bandwidth of transmission medium
• Propagation of electromagnetic waves
• Atmosphere, sky, and space wave propagation
• Modulation
• Need for modulation
• Production and detection of an amplitude-modulated wave