JEE Physics Syllabus
General: Units and dimensions, dimensional analysis; least count, significant figures; Methods of
measurement and error analysis for physical quantities pertaining to the following experiments:
Experiments based on using vernier calipers and screw gauge (micrometer), Determination of g using
simple pendulum, Young's modulus by Searle's method, Specific heat of a liquid using calorimeter,
focal length of a concave mirror and a convex lens using u-v method, Speed of sound using resonance
column, Verification of Ohm's law using voltmeter and ammeter, and specific resistance of the
material of a wire using meter bridge and post office box.
Mechanics: Kinematics in one and two dimensions (Cartesian coordinates only), projectiles; Circular
motion (uniform and non-uniform); Relative velocity.
Newton's laws of motion; Inertial and uniformly accelerated frames of reference; Static and dynamic
friction; Kinetic and potential energy; Work and power; Conservation of linear momentum and
mechanical energy.
Systems of particles; Centre of mass and its motion; Impulse; Elastic and inelastic collisions.
Law of gravitation; Gravitational potential and field; Acceleration due to gravity; Motion of planets and
satellites in circular orbits.
Rigid body, moment of inertia, parallel and perpendicular axes theorems, moment of inertia of uniform
bodies with simple geometrical shapes; Angular momentum; Torque; Conservation of angular
momentum; Dynamics of rigid bodies with fixed axis of rotation; Rolling without slipping of rings,
cylinders and spheres; Equilibrium of rigid bodies; Collision of point masses with rigid bodies.
Linear and angular simple harmonic motions.
Hooke's law, Young's modulus.
Pressure in a fluid; Pascal's law; Buoyancy; Surface energy and surface tension, capillary rise;
Viscosity (Poiseuille's equation excluded), Stoke's law; Terminal velocity, Streamline flow, Equation of
continuity, Bernoulli's theorem and its applications.
Wave motion (plane waves only), longitudinal and transverse waves, Superposition of waves;
progressive and stationary waves; Vibration of strings and air columns. Resonance; Beats; Speed of
sound in gases; Doppler effect (in sound).
Thermal physics: Thermal expansion of solids, liquids and gases; Calorimetry, latent heat; Heat
conduction in one dimension; Elementary concepts of convection and radiation; Newton's law of
cooling; Ideal gas laws; Specific heats (Cv and Cp for monatomic and diatomic gases); Isothermal and
adiabatic processes, bulk modulus of gases; Equivalence of heat and work; First law of
thermodynamics and its applications (only for ideal gases). Blackbody radiation: absorptive and
emissive powers; Kirchhoff's law, Wien's displacement law, Stefan's law.
Electricity and magnetism: Coulomb's law; Electric field and potential; Electrical Potential energy of
a system of point charges and of electrical dipoles in a uniform electrostatic field, Electric field lines;
Flux of electric field; Gauss's law and its application in simple cases, such as, to find field due to
infinitely long straight wire, uniformly charged infinite plane sheet and uniformly charged thin
spherical shell.
Capacitance; Parallel plate capacitor with and without dielectrics; Capacitors in series and parallel;
Energy stored in a capacitor.
Electric current: Ohm's law; Series and parallel arrangements of resistances and cells; Kirchhoff's laws
and simple applications; Heating effect of current.
Biot-Savart law and Ampere's law, magnetic field near a current-carrying straight wire, along the axis
of a circular coil and inside a long straight solenoid; Force on a moving charge and on a currentcarrying wire in a uniform magnetic field.
Magnetic moment of a current loop; Effect of a uniform magnetic field on a current loop; Moving coil
galvanometer, voltmeter, ammeter and their conversions.
Electromagnetic induction: Faraday's law, Lenz's law; Self and mutual inductance; RC, LR and LC
circuits with d.c. and a.c. sources.
Optics: Rectilinear propagation of light; Reflection and refraction at plane and spherical surfaces;
Total internal reflection; Deviation and dispersion of light by a prism; Thin lenses; Combinations of
mirrors and thin lenses; Magnification.
Wave nature of light: Huygen's principle, interference limited to Young's double-slit experiment.
Modern physics: Atomic nucleus; Alpha, beta and gamma radiations; Law of radioactive decay;
Decay constant; Half-life and mean life; Binding energy and its calculation; Fission and fusion
processes; Energy calculation in these processes.
Photoelectric effect; Bohr's theory of hydrogen-like atoms; Characteristic and continuous X-rays,
Moseley's law; de Broglie wavelength of matter waves.
