NEST Physics Syllabus
General : Units and dimensions, dimensional analysis; least count, significant figures; Methods of measurement (Direct, Indirect, Null, etc., ) and measurement of length, time, mass, temperature, electrical potential difference, current and resistance.
Design of some simple experiments, Identification of independent, dependent and control variables, Identification of sample size, range and interval; Identification of appropriate measurement techniques and instruments.
Graphical representation, interpretation and analysis of data. Errors in the measurements and error analysis.
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: Stoke’s and Poiseuille’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 monoatomic and diatomic gases); Isothermal and adiabatic processes, bulk modulus of gases; Equivalence of heat and work; First and second law of thermodynamics and its applications (only for ideal gases); Entropy. 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’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 and a.c. Sources.
Optics: Rectilinear propagation of light; Reflection and refraction at plane and spherical surfaces, Deviation and dispersion of light by a prism; Thin lenses.; Combination of mirrors and thin lenses; Magnification.
Wave nature of light: Huygen’s principle, interference limited to Young’s double slit experiment.
Elementary idea of diffraction – Rayleigh criterion, Elementary idea of polarization – Brewster’s law and the law of Malus.
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. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.