JEE Main Physics Syllabus

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.

 

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.

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’s 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 current-carrying 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.

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 monoatomic 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.

Mechanics :

•  Kinematics in one and two dimensions (Cartesian coordinates only), projectiles; Uniform Circular motion; 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; Escape velocity.
• 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).

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.

 EXPERIMENTAL SKILLS

Familiarity with the basic approach and observations of the experiments and activities:

1. Vernier callipers-its use to measure internal and external diameter and depth of a vessel.

2. Screw gauge-its use to determine thickness/diameter of thin sheet/wire.

3. Simple Pendulum-dissipation of energy by plotting a graph between square of amplitude and time.

4. Metre Scale – mass of a given object by principle of moments.

5. Young’s modulus of elasticity of the material of a metallic wire.

6. Surface tension of water by capillary rise and effect of detergents.

7. Co-efficient of Viscosity of a given viscous liquid by measuring terminal velocity of a given spherical body.

8. Plotting a cooling curve for the relationship between the temperature of a hot body and time.

9. Speed of sound in air at room temperature using a resonance tube.

10. Specific heat capacity of a given (i) solid and (ii) liquid by method of mixtures.

11. Resistivity of the material of a given wire using metre bridge.

12. Resistance of a given wire using Ohm’s law.

13. Potentiometer –

(i) Comparison of emf of two primary cells.

(ii) Determination of internal resistance of a cell.

14. Resistance and figure of merit of a galvanometer by half deflection method.

15. Focal length of:

(i) Convex mirror

(ii) Concave mirror, and

(iii) Convex lens

using parallax method.

16. Plot of angle of deviation vs angle of incidence for a triangular prism.

17. Refractive index of a glass slab using a travelling microscope.

18. Characteristic curves of a p-n junction diode in forward and reverse bias.

19. Characteristic curves of a Zener diode and finding reverse break down voltage.

20. Characteristic curves of a transistor and finding current gain and voltage gain.

21. Identification of Diode, LED, Transistor, IC, Resistor, Capacitor from mixed collection of such items.

22. Using multimeter to:

(i) Identify base of a transistor

(ii) Distinguish between npn and pnp type transistor

(iii) See the unidirectional flow of current in case of a diode and an LED.

(iv) Check the correctness or otherwise of a given electronic component (diode, transistor or IC).

 COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Propagation of electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere; Sky and space wave propagation, Need for modulation, Amplitude and Frequency Modulation, Bandwidth of signals, Bandwidth of Transmission medium, Basic Elements of a Communication System (Block Diagram only).

 ELECTRONIC DEVICES

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). Transistor as a switch.

 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.

 DUAL NATURE OF MATTER AND RADIATION

Dual nature of radiation. Photoelectric ef fect , Hertz and Lenard’s observat ions; Einstein’s photoelectric equation; part icle nature of light . Matter waves-wave nature of part icle, de Broglie relation. Davisson-Germer experiment.

 OPTICS

• Reflection and refraction of light at plane and spherical surfaces, mirror formula, Total internal reflection and its applications, Deviation and Dispersion of light by a prism, Lens Formula, Magnification, Power of a Lens, Combination of thin lenses in contact, Microscope and Astronomical Telescope (reflecting and refracting) and their magnifyingpowers.
• Wave optics: wavefront and Huygens’ principle, Laws of reflection and refraction using Huygen’s principle. Interference, Young’s double slit experiment and expression for fringe width. Diffraction due to a single slit, width of central maximum. Resolving power of microscopes and astronomical telescopes, Polarisation, plane polarized light; Brewster’s law, uses of plane polarized light and Polaroids.

 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

Electromagnetic waves and their characteristics. Transverse nature of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, Xrays, gamma rays). Applications of e.m. waves.

 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; LCR series circuit, resonance; Quality factor, power in AC circuits, wattless current. AC generator and transformer.

 MAGNETIC EFFECTS OF CURRENT AND MAGNETISM

• Biot – Savart law and its application to current carrying circular loop. Ampere’s law and its applications to infinitely long current carrying straight wire and solenoid. 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 current-carrying conductors-definition of ampere. Torque experienced by a current loop in uniform 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. Bar magnet as an equivalent solenoid, magnetic field lines; Earth’s magnetic field and magnetic elements.Para-, dia- and ferro- magnetic substances.
• Magnetic susceptibility and permeability, Hysteresis, Electromagnets and permanent magnets.

 CURRRENT ELECTRICITY

• Electric current, Drift velocity, Ohm’s law, Electrical resistance, Resistances of different materials, V-I characteristics of Ohmic and nonohmic conductors, Electrical energy and power, Electrical resistivity, Colour code for resistors; Series and parallel combinations of resistors; Temperature dependence of resistance.
• Electric Cell and its Internal resistance, potential difference and emf of a cell, combination of cells in series and in parallel. Kirchhoff’s laws and their applications. Wheatstone bridge, Metre bridge. Potentiometer – principle and its applications.

 ELECTROSTATICS

• Electric charges: Conservation of charge, Coulomb’s law-forces 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, Gauss’s law and its applications to find field due to infinitely long uniformly charged straight wire, uniformly charged infinite plane sheet and uniformly charged thin spherical shell. Electric potential and its calculation for a point charge, electric dipole and system of charges; Equipotential surfaces, Electrical potential energy of a system of two point charges in an electrostatic field.
• Conductors and insulators, Dielectrics and electric polarization, capacitor, 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.

 OSCILLATIONS AND WAVES

• Periodic motion – period, frequency, displacement as a function of time. Periodic functions. Simple harmonic motion (S.H.M.) and its equation; phase; oscillations of a spring -restoring force and force constant; energy in S.H.M. – kinetic and potential energies; Simple pendulum – derivation of expression for its time period; Free, forced and damped oscillations, resonance.
• Wave motion. Longitudinal and transverse waves, speed of a wave. 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 in sound.

 KINETIC THEORY OF GASES

Equation of state of a perfect gas, work doneon 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,applications to specific heat capacities of gases; Mean free path, Avogadro’s number.

 THERMODYNAMICS

Thermal equilibrium, zeroth law of thermodynamics, concept of temperature.

Heat, work and internal energy. First law of thermodynamics. Second law of thermodynamics: reversible and irreversible processes. Carnot engine and its efficiency.