NCERT Class 11 Syllabus for Physics

CLASS XI (THEORY)

Unit I: Physical World and Measurement (Periods 10)
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.

Unit II: Kinematics (Periods 30)
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, relations 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 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.

Unit III: Laws of Motion (Periods 16)
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.
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).

Unit IV: Work, Energy and Power (Periods 16)
Work done by a constant force and a 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); non-conservative forces; motion in a vertical circle, elastic and
inelastic collisions in one and two dimensions.

Unit V: Motion of System of Particles and Rigid Body (Periods 18)
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.

3