Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Higher Secondary Stage) : Core Syllabus
Physics, Chemistry and Biology (Higher Secondary Stage) : Core Syllabus
CORE SYLLABUS
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12 Organic Chemistry- Some Basic Principles 12 Aldehydes, Ketones and Carboxylic Acids
and Techniques
13 Hydrocarbons 13 Organic Compounds Containing
Nitrogen
14 Environmental Chemistry 14 Biomolecules
15 Polymers
16 Chemistry in Everyday Life
• 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.
• 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, 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, 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.
• Scalar and Vector products of Vectors. Motion in a plane. Cases of uniform velocity and uniform
acceleration- projectile motion. Uniform circular motion.
• 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.
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• 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).
• Work done by a constant force and 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); nonconservative forces; motion in a vertical circle,
elastic and inelastic collisions in one and two dimensions.
• 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 uniform rod.
• 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.
• 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 velocity, orbital velocity of a satellite.
Geostationary satellites.
• Elastic behavior, Stress-strain relationship. Hooke’s law, Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, shear,
modulus of rigidity, poisson’s ratio; elastic energy.
• Viscosity, Stokes’ law, terminal velocity, Reynold’s number, streamline and turbulent flow. Critical
velocity, Bernoulli’s theorem and its applications.
• Surface energy and surface tension, angle of contact, excess of pressure, application of surface
tension ideas to drops, bubbles and capillary rise.
• Heat, temperature, thermal expansion; thermal expansion of solids, liquids, and gases. Anomalous
expansion. Specific heat capacity: Cp, Cv- calorimetry; change of state – latent heat.
• Heat transfer- conduction and thermal conductivity, convection and radiation. Qualitative ideas of
Black Body Radiation, Wein’s displacement law, and Green House effect.
• Newton’s law of cooling and Stefan’s law.
• Thermal equilibrium and definition of temperature (zeroth law of Thermodynamics). Heat, work and
internal energy. First law of thermodynamics. Isothermal and adiabatic processes.
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• Second law of the thermodynamics: Reversible and irreversible processes. Heat engines and
refrigerators.
UNIT I: Electrostatics
• Electric charges and their conservation. Coulomb’s law-force 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, statement of Gauss’s theorem and its applications to find field due to infinitely long
straight wire, uniformly charged infinite plane sheet and 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 of
electric diploes 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 in parallel,
capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor with and without dielectric medium between the plates,
energy stored in a capacitor, Van de Graaff generator.
• Electric current, flow of electric charges in a metallic conductor, drift velocity and mobility, and their
relation with electric current; Ohm’s law, electrical resistance, V-I characteristics (liner and non-
linear), electrical energy and power, electrical resistivity and conductivity.
• Carbon resistors, color 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
in parallel.
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• Kirchhoff’s laws and simple applications. Wheatstone bridge, metre bridge.
• Potentiometer-principle and applications to measure potential difference, and for comparing emf of
two cells; measurement of internal resistance of a cell.
• Concept of magnetic field, Oersted’s experiment. Biot-Savart law and its application to current
carrying circular loop.
• Ampere’s law and its applications to infinitely long straight wire, straight and toroidal solenoids. 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 a 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. Magnetic dipole moment of a
revolving electron. Magnetic field intensity due to a magnetic dipole (bar magnet) along its axis and
perpendicular to its axis. Torque on a magnetic dipole (bar magnet) in a uniform magnetic field; bar
magnet as an equivalent solenoid, magnetic field lines; Earth’s magnetic field and magnetic elements.
• Para-, dia-and ferro-magnetic substances, with examples.
• Electromagnetic and factors affecting their strengths. Permanent magnets.
• 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;
LC oscillations (qualitative treatment only), LCR series circuit, resonance; power in AC circuits, wattles
current.
• AC generator and transformer.
• Reflection of light, spherical mirrors, mirror formula. Refraction of light, total internal reflection and
its applications optical fibres, refraction at spherical surfaces, lenses, thin lens formula, lens-maker’s
formula. Magnification, power of a lens, combination of thin lenses in contact combination of a lens
and a mirror. Refraction and dispersion of light through a prism.
• Scattering of light- blue colour of the sky and 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 and astronomical telescopes (reflecting and refracting) and their magnifying powers.
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• Wave optics: Wavefront and Huygens’ principle, reflection and refraction of plane wave at a plane
surface using wavefronts.
• Proof of laws of reflection and refraction using Huygens’ principle.
• Interference, Young’s double hole experiment and expression for fringe width, coherent sources and
sustained interference of light.
• 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.
• 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
(experimental details should be omitted; only conclusion should be explained).
• Alpha- particle scattering experiments; 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 decay law. Mass-energy
relation, mass defect; binding energy per nucleon and its variation with mass number, nuclear fission
and fusion.
• Energy bands in solids (qualitative ideas only), conductors, insulators and semiconductors;
semiconductor diode- I-V characteristics in forward and reverse bias, diode as a rectifier; I-V
characteristics of LED, diode, 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.
• Atomic number, isotopes and isobars. Concept of shells and subshells, dual nature of matter and light,
de Broglie’s relationship, Heisenberg uncertainty principle, concept of orbital, quantum numbers,
shapes of s,p and d orbitals, rules for filling electrons in orbitals- Aufbau principle, Pauli exclusion
principles and Hund’s rule, electronic configuration of atoms, stability of half filled and completely
filled orbitals.
• Valence electrons, ionic bond, covalent bond, bond parameters, Lewis structure, polar character of
covalent bond, valence bond theory, resonance, geometry of molecules, VSEPR theory, concept of
hybridization involving s, p and d orbitals and shapes of some simple molecules, molecular orbital
theory of homonuclear diatomic molecules (qualitative idea only). Hydrogen bond.
• Three states of matter, intermolecular interactions, types of bonding, melting and boiling points, role
of gas laws of elucidating the concept of the molecule, Boyle’s law, Charle’s law, Gay Lussac’s law,
Avogadro’s law, ideal behaviour of gases, empirical derivation of gas equation. Avogadro number,
ideal gas equation. Kinetic energy and molecular speeds (elementary idea), deviation from ideal
behaviour, liquefaction of gases, critical temperature.
• Liquid State- Vapour pressure, viscosity and surface tension (qualitative idea only, no mathematical
derivations).
UNIT VI : Thermodynamics
• First law of thermodynamics-internal energy and enthalpy, heat capacity and specific heat,
measurement of U and H, Hess’s law of constant heat summation, enthalpy of : bond dissociation,
combustion, formation, atomization, sublimation, phase transition, ionization, solution and dilution.
• Introduction of entropy as state function, Second law of thermodynamics, Gibbs energy change for
spontaneous and non-spontaneous process, criteria for equilibrium and spontaneity.
• Third law of thermodynamics- Brief introduction.
• Equilibrium in physical and chemical processes, dynamic nature of equilibrium, law of chemical
equilibrium, equilibrium constant, factors affecting equilibrium- Le Chatelier’s principle; ionic
equilibrium- ionization of acids and bases, strong and weak electrolytes, degree of ionization,
ionization of polybasic acids, acid strength, concept of pH., Hydrolysis of salts (elementary idea).,
buffer solutions, Henderson equation, solubility product, common ion effect (with illustrative
examples).
• Concept of oxidation and oxidation and reduction, redox reactions oxidation number, balancing redox
reactions in terms of loss and gain of electron and change in oxidation numbers.
• Occurrence, isotopes, preparation, properties and uses of hydrogen; hydridesionic, covalent and
interstitial; physical and chemical properties of water, heavy water; hydrogen peroxide-preparation,
reactions, uses and structure;
• General introduction, methods of purification qualitative and quantitative analysis, classification and
IUPAC nomenclature of organic compounds.
• Electronic displacements in a covalent bond: inductive effect, electromeric effect, resonance and
hyper conjugation.
• Homolytic and heterolytic fission of a covalent bond: free radials, carbocations, carbanions;
electrophiles and nucleophiles, types of organic reactions.
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Friedel Craft’s alkylation and acylation; directive influence of functional group in mono-substituted
benzene; carcinogenicity and toxicity.
• Environmental pollution: Air, water and soil pollution, chemical reactions in atmosphere, smogs,
major atmospheric pollutants; acid rain ozone and its reactions, effects of depletion of ozone layer,
greenhouse effect and global warming-pollution due to industrial wastes; green chemistry as an
alternative tool for reducing pollution, strategy for control of environmental pollution.
• Classification of solids based on different binding forces; molecular, ionic covalent and metallic solids,
amorphous and crystalline solids (elementary idea), unit cell in two dimensional and three
dimensional lattices, calculation of density of unit cell, packing in solids, packing efficiency, voids,
number of atoms per unit cell in a cubic unit cell, point defects, electrical and magnetic properties,
Band theory of metals, conductors, semiconductors and insulators.
• Redox reactions, conductance in electrolytic solutions, specific and molar conductivity variation of
conductivity with concentration, kohlrausch’s Law, electrolysis and Laws of electrolysis (elementary
idea), dry cell- electrolytic cells and Galvanic cells; lead accumulator, EMF of a cell, standard electrode
potential, Relation between Gibbs energy change and EMF of a cell, fuel cells; corrosion.
• Rate of a reaction (average and instantaneous), factors affecting rates of reaction; concentration,
temperature, catalyst; order and molecularity of a reaction; rate law and specific rate constant,
integrated rate equations and half life (only for zero and first order reactions); concept of collision
theory ( elementary idea, no mathematical treatment). Activation energy, Arrhenious equation.
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UNIT VII: p- Block Elements
• Group 15 elements: General introduction, electronic configuration, occurrence, oxidation states, trends
in physical and chemical properties; preparation and properties of ammonia and nitric acid, oxides of
nitrogen (structure only); Phosphorous- allotropic forms; compounds of phosphorous: preparation and
properties of phosphine, halides (PCI3, PCI5) and oxoacids (elementary idea only).
• Group 16 elements: General introduction, electronic configuration, oxidation states, occurrence, trends
in physical and chemical properties; dioxygen: preparation, properties and uses; classification of oxides;
ozone. Sulphur – allotropic forms; compounds of sulphur: preparation, preparation, properties and uses
of sulphur dioxide; sulphuric acid: industrial process of manufacture, properties and uses, oxoacids of
sulphur (structures only).
• Group 17 elements: General introduction, electronic configuration, oxidation states, occurrence, trends
in physical and chemical properties; compounds of halogens: preparation, properties and uses of
chlorine and hydrochloric acid, interhalogen compounds oxoacids of halogens (structures only).
• Group 18 elements: General introduction, electronic configuration, occurrence, trends in physical and
chemical properties, uses.
• Lanthanoids- electronic configuration, oxidation states, chemical reactivity, and lanthanoid contraction
and its consequences.
• Actinoids: Electronic configuration, oxidation states and comparison with lanthanoids.
• Coordination compounds: Introduction, ligands, coordination number, colour, magnetic properties and
shapes, IUPAC nomenclature of mononuclear coordination compounds, isomerism (structural and
stereo) bonding, Werner’s theory VBT,CFT; importance of coordination compounds (in qualitative
analysis, biological systems).
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UNIT XI: Alcohols, Phenols and Ethers
• Alcohols: Nomenclature, methods of preparation, physical and chemical properties (of primary alcohols
only); identification of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols; mechanism of dehydration, uses with
special reference to methanol and ethanol.
• Phenols: Nomenclature, methods of preparation, physical and chemical properties, acidic nature of
phenol, electrophillic substitution reactions, uses of phenols.
• Ethers: Nomenclature, methods of preparation, physical and chemical properties uses.
• Aldehydes and Ketones: Nomenclature, nature of carbonyl group, methods of preparation, physical and
chemical properties; and mechanism of nucleophilic addition, reactivity of alpha hydrogen in aldehydes;
uses.
• Carboxylic Acids: Nomenclature, acidic nature, methods of preparation, physical and chemical
properties; uses.
• Carbohydrates- Classification (aldoses and ketoses), monosaccharide (glucose and fructose), D.L.
configuration, oligosaccharides (sucrose, lactose, maltose), polysaccharides (starch, cellulose,
glycogen): importance.
• Proteins- Elementary idea of – amino acids, peptide bond, polypeptides, proteins, primary structure,
secondary structure, tertiary structure and quaternary structure (qualitative idea only), denaturation
of proteins; enzymes.
• Hormones- Elementary idea (excluding structure).
• Vitamins- Classification and function.
• Nucleic Acids: DNA and RNA
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