# Physics Syllabus for IIT JAM – Joint Admission Test

This article contain Physics Syllabus for IIT JAM - Joint Admission Test

Mathematical Methods: Calculus of single and multiple variables, partial derivatives, Jacobian, imperfect and perfect differentials, Taylor expansion, Fourier series. Vector algebra, Vector Calculus, Multiple integrals, Divergence theorem, Green’s theorem, Stokes’ theorem. First and linear second order differential equations. Matrices and determinants, Algebra of complex numbers.

Mechanics and General Properties of Matter: Newton’s laws of motion and applications, Velocity and acceleration in Cartesian, polar and cylindrical coordinate systems, uniformly rotating frame, centrifugal and Coriolis forces, Motion under a central force, Kepler’s laws, Gravitational Law and field, Conservative and non-conservative forces. System of particles, Centre of mass, equation of motion of the CM, conservation of linear and angular momentum, conservation of energy, variable mass systems. Elastic and inelastic collisions. Rigid body motion, fixed axis rotations, rotation and translation, moments of Inertia and products of Inertia. Principal moments and axes. Elasticity, Hooke’s law and elastic constants of isotropic solid, stress energy. Kinematics of moving fluids, equation of continuity, Euler’s equation, Bernoulli’s theorem, viscous fluids, surface tension and surface energy, capillarity.

Oscillations, Waves and Optics: Differential equation for simple harmonic oscillator and its general solution. Superposition of two or more simple harmonic oscillators. Lissajous figures. Damped and forced oscillators, resonance. Wave equation, traveling and standing waves in one-dimension. Energy density and energy transmission in waves. Group velocity and phase velocity. Sound waves in media. Doppler Effect. Fermat’s Principle. General theory of image formation. Thick lens, thin lens and lens combinations. Interference of light, optical path retardation. Fraunhofer diffraction. Rayleigh criterion and resolving power. Diffraction gratings. Polarization: linear, circular and elliptic polarization. Double refraction and optical rotation.

Electricity and Magnetism: Coulomb’s law, Gauss’s law. Electric field and potential. Electrostatic boundary conditions, Solution of Laplace’s equation for simple cases. Conductors, capacitors, dielectrics, dielectric polarization, volume and surface charges, electrostatic energy. Biot-Savart law, Ampere’s law, Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction, Self and mutual inductance. Alternating currents. Simple DC and AC circuits with R, L and C components. Displacement current, Maxwell’s equations and plane electromagnetic waves, Poynting’s theorem, reflection and refraction at a dielectric interface, transmission and reflection coefficients (normal incidence only). Lorentz Force and motion of charged particles in electric and magnetic fields.

Kinetic theory, Thermodynamics: Elements of Kinetic theory of gases. Velocity distribution and Equipartition of energy. Specific heat of Mono-, di- and tri-atomic gases. Ideal gas, van-der-Waals gas and equation of state. Mean free path. Laws of thermodynamics. Zeroeth law and concept of thermal equilibrium. First law and its consequences. Isothermal and adiabatic processes. Reversible, irreversible and quasi-static processes. Second law and entropy. Carnot cycle. Maxwell’s thermodynamic relations and simple applications. Thermodynamic potentials and their applications. Phase transitions and Clausius-Clapeyron equation.

Modern Physics: Inertial frames and Galilean invariance. Postulates of special relativity. Lorentz transformations. Length contraction, time dilation. Relativistic velocity addition theorem, mass energy equivalence. Blackbody radiation, photoelectric effect, Compton effect, Bohr’s atomic model, X-rays. Wave-particle duality, Uncertainty principle, Schrödinger equation and its solution for one, two and three dimensional boxes. Reflection and transmission at a step potential, tunneling through a barrier. Pauli exclusion principle. Distinguishable and indistinguishable particles. Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics. Structure of atomic nucleus, mass and binding energy. Radioactivity and its applications. Laws of radioactive decay. Fission and fusion.

Solid State Physics, Devices and Electronics: Crystal structure, Bravais lattices and basis. Miller indices. X-ray diffraction and Bragg’s law, Einstein and Debye theory of specific heat. Free electron theory of metals. Fermi energy and density of states. Origin of energy bands. Concept of holes and effective mass. Elementary ideas about dia-, para- and ferromagnetism, Langevin’s theory of paramagnetism, Curie’s law. Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors. Fermi level. p-n junctions, transistors. Transistor circuits in CB, CE, CC modes. Amplifier circuits with transistors. Operational amplifiers. OR, AND, NOR and NAND gates.