CBSE Class 11 Physics Updated Syllabus

CBSE Class 11 Physics Syllabus Course Structure

The table below shows the course structure and marks distribution in the updated Physics Class
11 Syllabus.

Unit Chapters No. of Periods Marks

1: Units and
Physical World and Measurement Measurements 8 23
2: Motion in a Straight
Line
Kinematics 3: Motion in a Plane 24

Laws of Motion 4: Laws of Motion 14 17

5: Work, Energy, and
Work, Energy, and Power Power 14
Motion of System of Particles and 6: System of Particles
Rigid Body and Rotational Motion 18
Gravitation 7: Gravitation 12
8: Mechanical Properties
of Solids
9: Mechanical Properties
of Fluids
10: Thermal Properties
Properties of Bulk Matter of Matter 24 20

Thermodynamics 11: Thermodynamics 12

Behaviour of Perfect Gases and

Kinetic Theory of Gases 12: Kinetic Theory 8

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 13: Oscillations
Oscillations and Waves 14: Waves 26 10
Total 160 70

Quick Overview of Physics Class 11 Syllabus

The Physics Class 11 Syllabus provides interesting chapters and topics. It starts with the basics
and later into complex concepts. Check out the table below for a breakdown of what you'll be
learning in each unit.

Physics Class 11 Syllabus (Chapter Wise)

Unit Name Description

1 Physical World and Chapter–1: Units and Measurements Need for

Measurement measurement:

Units of measurement; systems of units; SI units,

fundamental and derived units. Significant figures.
Dimensions of physical quantities, dimensional analysis,
and its applications.

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2 Kinematics Chapter–2: Motion in a Straight Line

The frame of reference, Motion in a straight line,

Elementary concepts of differentiation and integration for
describing motion, uniform and nonuniform motion,
instantaneous velocity, uniformly accelerated motion,
velocity-time, and position-time graphs. Relations for
uniformly accelerated motion (graphical treatment).

Chapter–3: Motion in a Plane

Scalar and vector quantities; position and displacement

vectors, general vectors and their notations; equality of
vectors, multiplication of vectors by a real number;
addition and subtraction of vectors, Unit vector;
resolution of a vector in a plane, rectangular components,
Scalar and Vector product of vectors. Motion in a plane,
cases of uniform velocity and uniform acceleration,
projectile motion, and uniform circular motion.

3 Laws of Motion Chapter–4: Laws of Motion

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,

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 examples of circular motion (vehicle on a level circular
road, vehicle on a banked road).

4 Work, Energy, and Chapter–5: Work, Energy and Power

Power
Work done by a constant force and a variable force;
kinetic energy, work-energy theorem, power.
The notion of potential energy, the potential energy of a
spring, conservative forces: non-conservative forces,
motion in a vertical circle; elastic and inelastic collisions
in one and two dimensions.

5 The motion of the Chapter–6: System of Particles and Rotational

System of Particles and Motion
Rigid Body
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 a uniform rod.
Moment of a force, torque, angular momentum, law of
conservation of angular momentum and its applications.
Equilibrium of rigid bodies, rigid body rotation and
equations of rotational motion, comparison of linear and
rotational motions.
Moment of inertia, radius of gyration, values of moments
of inertia for simple geometrical objects (no derivation).

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 6 Gravitation Chapter–7: Gravitation

Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, the universal law of

gravitation. Acceleration due to gravity and its variation
with altitude and depth. Gravitational potential energy
and gravitational potential, escape speed, orbital velocity
of a satellite.

7 Properties of Bulk Chapter–8: Mechanical Properties of Solids

Matter
Elasticity, Stress-strain relationship, Hooke’s law,
Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, shear modulus of
rigidity (qualitative idea only), Poisson’s ratio; elastic
energy.

Chapter 9: Mechanical Properties of Fluids

Pressure due to a fluid column; Pascal’s law and its

applications (hydraulic lift and hydraulic brakes), the
effect of gravity on fluid pressure.
Viscosity, Stokes’ law, terminal velocity, streamlined and
turbulent flow, critical velocity, Bernoulli’s theorem, and
its simple applications.
Surface energy and surface tension, angle of contact,
excess of pressure across a curved surface, application of
surface tension ideas to drops, bubbles, and capillary rise.

Chapter 10: Thermal Properties of Matter

Heat, temperature, thermal expansion; thermal expansion

of solids, liquids, and gases, anomalous expansion of
water; specific heat capacity; Cp, Cv – calorimetry;
change of state – latent heat capacity.

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 Heat transfer-conduction, convection and radiation,
thermal conductivity, qualitative ideas of Blackbody
radiation, Wein’s displacement Law, and Stefan’s law.

8 Thermodynamics Chapter–11: Thermodynamics

Thermal equilibrium and definition of temperature,

zeroth law of thermodynamics, heat, work, and internal
energy. The first law of thermodynamics,
The second law of thermodynamics: gaseous state of
matter, change of condition of gaseous state -isothermal,
adiabatic, reversible, irreversible, and cyclic processes.

9 Behaviour of Perfect Chapter–12: Kinetic Theory

Gases and Kinetic
Theory of Gases Equation of state of a perfect gas, work done in
compressing a gas.
Kinetic theory of gases – assumptions, the concept of
pressure. Kinetic interpretation of temperature; rms speed
of gas molecules; degrees of freedom; law of
equipartition of energy (statement only) and application
to specific heat capacities of gases; concept of mean free
path, Avogadro’s number.

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 10 Oscillations and Chapter–13: Oscillations
Waves
Periodic motion – period, frequency, displacement as a
function of time, periodic functions, and their
applications.
Simple harmonic motion (S.H.M) and its equations of
motion; phase; oscillations of a loaded spring- restoring
force and force constant; energy in S.H.M. Kinetic and
potential energies; simple pendulum derivation of
expression for its period.

Chapter–14: Waves

Wave motion: Transverse and longitudinal waves, speed

of travelling wave, displacement relation for a
progressive wave, principle of superposition of waves,
reflection of waves, standing waves in strings and organ
pipes, fundamental mode and harmonics, Beats.

Class 11 Physics Practical Syllabus

The record, to be submitted by the students, at the time of their annual examination, has to
include:
• Record at least 8 Experiments [with 4 from each section], to be performed by the students.
• Record at least 6 Activities [with 3 each from section A and section B], to be performed by
the students.
• Report on the project carried out by the students.

Practical Evaluation Scheme

Component Description Marks

Performance on two experiments (one from each section of the
Topic Marks syllabus). 7+7

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 Documentation of experiments, activities (observations,
Practical Record calculations, graphs), and project work. 5
Demonstration of a practical skill from any section of the
Activity syllabus. 3
Investigatory Independent project showcasing understanding and application of
Project Physics concepts. 3
Oral examination of performed experiments, activities, and the
Viva project. 5
Total 30

Experiments

Section A

Class 11 Physics Practical Syllabus Experiments

1. To measure the diameter of a small spherical/cylindrical body and to measure the

internal diameter and depth of a given beaker/calorimeter using Vernier Callipers and
hence find its volume.

2. To measure the diameter of a given wire and thickness of a given sheet using a screw
gauge.

3. To determine the volume of an irregular lamina using a screw gauge.

4. To determine the radius of curvature of a given spherical surface by a spherometer.

5. To determine the mass of two different objects using a beam balance.

6. To find the weight of a given body using the parallelogram law of vectors.

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 7. Using a simple pendulum, plot its L-T2 graph and use it to find the effective length of
the second pendulum.

8. To study the variation of a period of a simple pendulum of a given length by taking

bobs of the same size but different masses and interpreting the result.

9. To study the relationship between the force of limiting friction and normal reaction and
to find the coefficient of friction between a block and a horizontal surface.

10. To find the downward force, along an inclined plane, acting on a roller due to the
gravitational pull of the earth, and study its relationship with the angle of inclination θ by
plotting a graph between force and Sinθ.

Activities

Class 11 Physics Practical Syllabus Activities

1. To make a paper scale of given least count, e.g., 0.2cm, 0.5 cm.

2. To determine the mass of a given body using a metre scale by the principle of moments.

3. To plot a graph for a given set of data, with proper choice of scales and error bars.

4. To measure the force of limiting friction for rolling a roller on a horizontal plane.

5. To study the variation in the range of a projectile with an angle of projection.

6. To study the conservation of energy of a ball rolling down on an inclined plane (using a
double inclined plane).

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7. To study the dissipation of energy of a simple pendulum by plotting a graph between
the square of amplitude and time.

Section B

Class 11 Physics Practical Syllabus Experiments

1. To determine Young’s modulus of elasticity of the material of a given wire

2. To find the force constant of a helical spring by plotting a graph between load and
extension.

3. To study the variation in volume with pressure for a sample of air at constant
temperature by plotting graphs between P and V, and between P and 1/V.

4. To determine the surface tension of water by capillary rise method.

5. To determine the coefficient of viscosity of a given viscous liquid by measuring the

terminal velocity of a given spherical body.

6. To study the relationship between the temperature of a hot body and time by plotting a
cooling curve.

7. To determine the specific heat capacity of a given solid by the method of mixtures.

8. Study the relation between the frequency and length of a given wire under constant
tension using a sonometer.

9. To study the relation between the length of a given wire and tension for constant
frequency using a sonometer.

10. To find the speed of sound in air at room temperature using a resonance tube by two
resonance positions.

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Activities

Class 11 Physics Practical Syllabus Activities

1. To observe the change of state and plot a cooling curve for molten wax.

2. To observe and explain the effect of heating on a bi-metallic strip.

3. To note the change in the level of liquid in a container on heating and interpret the
observations.

4. To study the effect of detergent on the surface tension of water by observing capillary
rise.

5. To study the factors affecting the rate of loss of heat of a liquid.

6. To study the effect of load on depression of a suitably clamped metre scale loaded at (i)
its end and (ii) in the middle.

7. To observe the decrease in pressure with an increase in the velocity of a fluid.

Prescribed Books for Class XI Physics:

1. Physics Part-I, Textbook for Class XI, Published by NCERT

2. Physics Part-II, Textbook for Class XI, Published by NCERT

3. Laboratory Manual of Physics, Class XI Published by NCERT

4. The list of other related books and manuals brought out by NCERT (consider
multimedia also).

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