Base Quantities and their units.

Mass(kg) Length(m) Time(s)

Current(A) Temperature(K) Amount of

substance(mol)

Force(N) Work done(J) Pressure(Pa,N/m)

Prefixes and symbols to indicate decimal sub-multiples and multiples of the S.I. unit
Nano~(n), micro~(µ), milli~(m), centi~(c), deci~(d), kilo~(k), mega~(M)
C. SCALAR/ VECTOR QUANTITIES
Scalar Quantities Vector Quantities
Mass/m (kg) Displacement/s (m)
Time/t (s) Velocity/v (ms−1)
Distance/d (m) Acceleration/a (ms−2)
Speed/v (ms−1) Force/F (N)
3
Volume/v (m ¿
Density/ρ (kgm−3 )
Work/w (J)
Energy/E (J)
Power/P (w)

General Physics

Chapter 2: Kinematics
Distance: Total length covered by an object irrespective of direction of travel.
Displacement: It is the distance moved in a specific direction.
s
Velocity: It is the change in displacement per time. (V = )
t
d
Speed: Distance moved per unit time. ( s= )
t
∆V
Acceleration: It is the change in velocity with time. (a= )\
∆t
Terminal Velocity: As speed increases, air resistance experienced by the body increases, resulting in decreasing
acceleration. When air resistance equals to weight, terminal velocity is reached as no resultant force acts on it.

Chapter 3: Forces
Force: It is a push or pull that one object exerts on another which produces, or tends to produce motion, stops or
tends to stop motion.
Forces and Zero Acceleration: For an object with zero acceleration, the different forces acting on it are balanced
or add up to zero-- i.e. the resultant or net force is zero.
*Newton's 1st law of Motion: Every object will continue in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line
unless a resultant force acts on it to change its state.
*Newton's 2nd law of motion: When a resultant force acts on an object of constant mass, the object will
accelerate and move in the direction of the resultant force.
*Newton's 3rd law of motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and these forces act on
mutually opposite bodies.
Friction: Always opposes motion between two surfaces in contact.

Chapter 4: Mass, Weight and Density

Mass: It is a measure of the amount of substance in the body.
Gravitational Field Strength: It is the gravitational force acting per unit mass on an object. (i.e. Earth's
gravitational field strength ~10 NKg−1 = 1kg mass experiences a force of 10N due to Earth's gravitational pull)
Gravitational field: It is a region in which a mass experiences a force due to gravitational attraction.
Weight: The gravitational force acting on a mass is known as its weight. (W =mg)
Inertia: Refers to the reluctance of the object to change its state of rest or motion.
mass
Density: The density of a substance is defined as its mass per unit volume. ( ρ= )
volume
Chapter 5: Turning effect of Forces
Moments: The moment of a force(or torque) is the product of the force and the perpendicular distance from the
pivot to the line of action of the force. ( F=fd )
Principle of moments: For an object to be in equilibrium, the sum of the clockwise moments about any point
(acting as the pivot) equals the sum of the anticlockwise moment about the same point.
Centre of gravity: The centre of gravity is defined as the point through which its whole weight appears to act for
any orientation of the object.
Centre of mass: It is that point in a body that moves as if the entire mass of the body (or a system of a few
bodies) existed at that point.
Stability: It refers to the ability of an object to regain its original position after it has been tilted slightly.
Principle of Conservation of energy: Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can be converted from one form
to another, or transferred from one body to another, but the total remains constant.
Energy, Work and Power
Energy: Energy is the capacity to do work.
useful energy output
Efficiency= ×100 %
energy input
Work Done: Work done by a constant force on an object is given by the product of the force and the distance
moved by the object in the direction of the force.( W =F × s)
1 Joules: Defined as work done by a force of one newton which moves an object through a distance of one
metre in the direction of the force.
1
Kinetic Energy: m v2
2
Gravitational Energy: mg h
E W
Power: rate of work done OR rate of change of energy. P= =
t t
1 watt: Defined as the rate of work done or energy conversion of one joule per second.
Thermal Physics

Chapter 8: Temperature
Ice Point: This is the temperature of pure melting ice at one atmospheric pressure. It is assigned a value of 0̊c.
Steam Point: This is the temperature of steam from boiling water at one atmospheric pressure. It is assigned a
value of 100̊c.

Chapter 10: Transfer of Thermal Energy:

Thermal energy always flows from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature.
Conduction: The process of thermal energy transfer without any flow of the material medium.
Convection: The transfer of thermal energy by means of currents in a fluid (liquids or gases).
Radiation: It is the continual emission of infrared waves from the surface of all bodies, transmitted without the
aid of a medium.
Heat capacity: It is the amount of thermal energy required to raise the temperature of a body by 1k(or 1̊c).
Q
C=
∆θ
Specific Heat capacity: "c" is the amount of thermal energy required to raise the temperature of a body by 1k(or
1̊c). Q=mc(∆ θ)
Latent heat: It is the energy released or absorbed during a change of state.
Latent Heat of Fusion: Latent heat of fusion ¿) of a solid is the amount of thermal energy required to change it
from solid to liquid state, or vice versa, without a change in temperature. Lf =l f × m
Specific Latent heat of fusion: The specific latent heat of fusion ¿) of a solid is the amount of thermal energy
required to change 1kg of the solid to liquid, or vice versa, without any change in temperature.
Latent Heat of vaporisation: Latent heat of vaporisation, Lv , of a substance is the thermal energy required to
change it from liquid to vapour state, or vice versa, without any change in temperature. Lv =l v × m
Specific Latent heat of vapourisation: Specific Latent heat of vaporisation, l v , of a substance is the thermal
energy required to change 1kg of it from liquid to vapour state, or vice versa, without any change in
temperature.
Light, Waves and Sound

Chapter 12: Light

Light: Defined as part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be detected by the human eye.
Law of reflection(1): The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in the
same plane.
Law of refraction(2):
Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection.
Refraction of light: Refraction is the changing of direction of light when light passes from one medium to
another.
Laws of refraction(1): The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal at the point of incidence, all lie in the
same plane.
Laws of refraction(2): Snell's law--For two particular media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the
sine of the angle of refraction is a constant.
sinc
=n , where n is a constant .
sini
Refractive Index: The refractive index is a ration between the speed of light in air or vacuum and the speed of
light in a medium.
Critical Angle: Defined as the angle of incidence in the optically denser medium for which the angle of
refraction in the less dense medium is 90̊

Chapter 13: Waves

Wave: Periodic motion repeated at regular intervals
Oscillation: 1 extreme position to other extreme position and back.
Transverse waves: They are waves that travel in a direction perpendicular to the direction of vibration.
Longitudinal Waves: They are waves that travel in a direction parallel to the direction of vibration.
Crest and troughs: These are the highest and lowest points of a transverse wave, respectively.
Phase: Any 2 points are said to be in phase when they move in the same direction, have the same speed, and the
same displacement from the rest position. (Any two crests or troughs are always in phase.)
Wavelength: Shortest distance between 2 points in a wave that are in phase.
Amplitude: Maximum displacement from rest/centre position = Depth of a trough measured from rest position.
Period: Time taken for one point on the wave to complete an oscillation = Time taken to produce a complete
wave.
1
Frequency: Number of complete waves produced per second. f=
T
Wave Speed: In a time of one period, a crest on a transverse rope wave will have moved a distance of one
wavelength. V =f λ
Wavefront: Imaginary lie on a wave that joins all points that are in the same phase.

Chapter 15: Sound

Sound: It is produced by vibrating sources placed in a medium.
Echo: It is formed when a sound is reflected off hard, flat surfaces such as a large wall or a distant cliff.
Ultrasound: Sound with frequencies above the upper limit of the human range of audibility.
Electricity and Magnetism

Chapter 16: Static Electricity

Electric field: It is a region where an electric charge experiences an electric force.
Direction of field: It is the direction of the force on a small positive charge.

Chapter 17: Current Electricity

Q
Electric Current: Measure of rate of flow of electric charge through a given cross section of a conductor. ( I =
t
)
Electromotive Force: Electromotive force of an electrical energy source is defined as the work done by the
W
source in driving a unit charge round a complete circuit. ( E= )
Q
Potential difference: The potential difference between 2 points in a circuit is defined as the amount of electrical
energy converted to other forms of energy when one coulomb of positive charge passes between the two points.
W
(V = ¿
Q
Resistance: The resistance of a component is defined as the measure of how difficult for an electric current to
pass through a material. ¿)
Ohm's Law: The current passing through a metallic conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference
across its ends, provided the physical conditions is constant. ¿)

Chapter 18: D.C. Circuits

Transducers are electrical or electronic devices that convert energy from one form to another.
A thermistor is a device that has a resistance which changes with temperature.
Light-dependent Resistor is a device that has a resistance which varies with the amount of light shining on it.

Chapter 19: Practical Electricity

Circuit breakers are safety devices that can switch off the electrical supply in a circuit when there is an overflow
of current.
Fuse: It is a safety device included in an electrical circuit to prevent excessive current flow.

Chapter 20: Magnetism

Magnetic field: It is a region in which a magnetic object, placed within the influence of the field, experiences a
magnetic force.

Chapter 22: Electromagnetic Induction

Faraday's Law of Electromagnetic Induction: The e.m.f. induced in a conductor is proportional to the rate of
change of magnetic lines of force linking the circuit.
Lenz's Law: The direction of the induced e.m.f., and hence the induced current in a closed circuit, is always such
that its magnetic effect opposes the motion or change producing it.
A transformer is a device that changes a high alternating voltage (at low current) to a low alternating voltage (at
high current), and vice versa.
The diode is a semiconductor device that allows a current to flow easily in one direction only.