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SUBJECT SYLLABUS

IISER IAT Physics syllabus

Explore all 28 topic groups and their subtopics. Use this checklist alongside question practice and spaced revision.

2026 syllabus referenceReviewed 13 September 2026
UNIT 01

Units and measurements

  • SI units and significant figures
  • Dimensions, dimensional formulae and equations
  • Dimensional analysis and applications
UNIT 02

Motion in a straight line

  • Instantaneous speed and velocity
  • Acceleration
  • Kinematic equations for uniform acceleration
UNIT 03

Motion in a plane

  • Scalar and vector quantities, scalar multiplication and graphical vector addition or subtraction
  • Components and analytical vector addition
  • Two-dimensional motion and constant acceleration
  • Projectiles and uniform circular motion
UNIT 04

Laws of motion

  • Inertia and Newton's three laws
  • Momentum conservation and particle equilibrium
  • Common mechanical forces
  • Forces required for circular motion
UNIT 05

Work, energy and power

  • Work and kinetic energy, including the work–energy theorem for variable forces
  • Potential energy, mechanical-energy conservation and springs
  • Power and collisions
UNIT 06

Particles and rotation

  • Centre of mass, its motion and system momentum
  • Vector products and the relation between angular and linear velocity
  • Torque, angular momentum and rigid-body equilibrium
  • Moments of inertia
  • Kinematics and dynamics of rotation about a fixed axis
UNIT 07

Gravitation

  • Kepler's laws, universal gravitation and the gravitational constant
  • Earth's gravitational acceleration above and below its surface
  • Potential energy and escape speed
  • Satellites, their orbits and orbital energy
UNIT 08

Mechanical properties of solids

  • Stress, strain and Hooke's law
  • Stress–strain curves and elastic moduli
  • Applications of elasticity
UNIT 09

Mechanical properties of fluids

  • Fluid pressure and streamline flow
  • Bernoulli's principle
  • Viscosity and surface tension
UNIT 10

Thermal properties of matter

  • Heat, temperature and thermometry
  • Ideal-gas equation and absolute temperature
  • Thermal expansion, specific heat and calorimetry
  • Changes of state, heat transfer and Newton's cooling law
UNIT 11

Thermodynamics

  • Thermal equilibrium and the zeroth law
  • Heat, internal energy, work and the first law
  • Heat capacities, state variables, equations of state and processes
  • The second law, reversibility and irreversibility
  • Carnot engines
UNIT 12

Kinetic theory

  • Molecular description of matter and gas behaviour
  • Kinetic theory of an ideal gas
  • Equipartition of energy and heat capacities
  • Mean free path
UNIT 13

Oscillations

  • Periodic motion and simple harmonic motion
  • SHM as a projection of circular motion
  • Velocity, acceleration, restoring force and energy in SHM
  • The simple pendulum
UNIT 14

Waves

  • Transverse and longitudinal waves
  • Progressive-wave displacement equations and wave speeds
  • Superposition and reflection
  • Beats
UNIT 15

Electric charges and fields

  • Charge properties, conductors and insulators
  • Coulomb forces and superposition for multiple charges
  • Electric fields, field lines and flux
  • Dipoles and their response to a uniform field
  • Continuous charge distributions, Gauss's law and its applications
UNIT 16

Potential and capacitance

  • Potential of points, dipoles and charge systems
  • Equipotential surfaces and energy of charges in internal or external fields
  • Conductors in electrostatic equilibrium
  • Dielectrics and polarisation
  • Parallel-plate capacitors, dielectric effects and capacitor combinations
  • Stored electrostatic energy
UNIT 17

Current electricity

  • Current in conductors, electron drift and resistivity
  • Ohm's law, its limitations and material or temperature dependence of resistivity
  • Electrical power and energy
  • Cells, emf, internal resistance and series or parallel combinations
  • Kirchhoff's rules and the Wheatstone bridge
UNIT 18

Moving charges and magnetism

  • Magnetic forces and particle trajectories
  • Biot–Savart law and the field on the axis of a circular loop
  • Ampere's circuital law and solenoids
  • Force between parallel currents and the ampere
  • Current-loop torque, magnetic dipoles and moving-coil galvanometers
UNIT 19

Magnetism and matter

  • Bar magnets and Gauss's law for magnetism
  • Magnetisation and magnetic intensity
  • Magnetic behaviour of materials
UNIT 20

Electromagnetic induction

  • Faraday and Henry's experiments, magnetic flux and Faraday's law
  • Lenz's law and energy conservation
  • Motional emf and inductance
  • AC generators
UNIT 21

Alternating current

  • Resistive, inductive and capacitive AC circuits
  • Phasor representation of voltage and current
  • Series LCR circuits
  • AC power and power factor
  • Transformers
UNIT 22

Electromagnetic waves

  • Displacement current
  • Properties of electromagnetic waves
  • The electromagnetic spectrum
UNIT 23

Ray optics and instruments

  • Spherical-mirror reflection and refraction
  • Total internal reflection
  • Refraction at curved surfaces and lenses
  • Prisms and optical instruments
UNIT 24

Wave optics

  • Huygens' principle applied to reflection and refraction
  • Coherent and incoherent wave addition
  • Interference and Young's experiment
  • Diffraction and polarisation
UNIT 25

Dual nature of radiation and matter

  • Electron emission and photoelectric observations
  • Limits of the wave description and Einstein's photoelectric equation
  • Energy quanta and photons
  • Matter waves
UNIT 26

Atoms

  • Alpha scattering and Rutherford's atom
  • Atomic spectra and the Bohr hydrogen model
  • Hydrogen line spectra
  • De Broglie's interpretation of Bohr's angular-momentum quantisation
UNIT 27

Nuclei

  • Atomic masses, nuclear composition and size
  • Mass–energy equivalence, binding energy and nuclear forces
  • Radioactivity and nuclear energy
UNIT 28

Semiconductors

  • Classification of conducting, insulating and semiconducting materials
  • Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors
  • The p–n junction and semiconductor diode
  • Rectification using a junction diode

Put the topics into practice

For each topic, explain the concept, solve a question without notes, then return to it after a gap. Older papers may include material outside the 2026 scope.

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