Click to download PDF of Proposed Syllabus for B. Sc. Semester program implemented from Session 2016-17 of Kumaun University for Physics
First Paper : Thermodynamics and Heat
M.M. 33
Note: This question paper consists of three Sections. Section-A consists of fourteen objective
type questions bearing ½ mark each, all questions are compulsory. Section-B consists of ten short
answer type questions bearing 2 marks each, attempt any seven questions from this section.
Section-C consists of six long answer type questions bearing 4 marks each and attempt any three
questions from this section. Questions are to be attempted sequentially as far as possible. All the
symbols used have their usual meanings.
Unit 1: Thermodynamical concepts and First Law of Thermodynamics
Macroscopic and microscopic systems, Internal and external energy states of molecule,
Equilibrium and thermodynamic variables of a system, Temperature, Zeroth law of
Thermodynamics, Equation of state, work Indicator diagram, Internal Energy and First law of
Thermodynamics, the two specific heats of a substance, Joule's law and perfect gas, Cp, Cv,
Quasi static processes, Adiabatic Processes (change of temp. and work done with examples),
perfect gas model and quantitative checks on it, Kinetic theory of gases (an Outline), Van der
Waals equation, Joules Expansion of a real gas, Nature of Van der Waals forces, J.T. expansion
(change of temperature), Distinction between Joule, Joule-Thompson and Adiabatic expansion
of a gas.
Unit 2: II- law of Thermodynamics and Entropy
Insufficiency of first law of Thermodynamics, Heat Engine and its efficiency, Reversible and
Irreversible processes, Carnot's cycle (examples), Carnot's Theorem, Second law of
Thermodynamics. Clausius theorem and Entropy, mathematical formulation of II- law of
Thermodynamics, Entropy of an ideal gas, T-S Diagrams, Principle of increase of entropy and its
application, Evaluation of entropy changes in simple cases. Thermodynamic scale of
temperature and its identity to perfect gas scale of temperature. Second law in terms of
entropy, Third law of thermodynamics as unattainability of absolute zero: Nernst heat theorem.
Unit 3: Thermodynamic Relations and Production of low Temperatures
single valued functions of state, intensive and extensive parameters, Maxwell's thermodynamic
relationship, Thermodynamic potentials, Maxwell's equations from thermodynamic potentials,
some useful manipulations with partial derivatives (cooling in adiabatic processes and adiabatic
stretching of a wire), The Clausius-Clapeyron latent heat and specific heat equations, Triple
point, Applications of Maxwell's thermodynamical relations.
Introduction to cryogenics and refrigeration, cooling by evaporation: Vapor-
compression refrigeration, cascade or series refrigeration, cooling by adiabatic expansion: air
compression machine, Cooling by J.T. throttling process, Hampson's and Linde's regenerative
cooling machine. Liquification of air, Hydrogen and Helium-production of temperatures below
4°K Solidification of Helium cooling by adiabatic demagnetization (Mechanical details of the
machines not required)
Unit 4: Radiation
Radiation, black body, some useful definitions, Thermodynamics of radiation inside a hollow
enclosure, Kirchhoff's law, Stefan-Boltzmann Law from thermodynamics, Radiation from non-
black-bodies, Wien's displacement law and its deduction from thermodynamics. Radiation
pyrometers, Black body spectrum formula-early attempts, Rayleigh Jean's law - the counting of
modes and average energy of a classical oscillator in thermal equilibrium at temperature T,
Quantum theory of radiation, average energy of Planck's oscillator, Planck's formula for black
body spectrum, derivation of Stefan-Boltzmann law, Wien's law, Rayleigh Jean’s law from
Planck's formula. Radiation as a photon gas.
Unit 5: Specific Heat
Specific heat of simple solids, Dulong and Petit’s law, departure of the law at low temperatures,
Einstein's theory of specific heat and its limitations, Lattice vibrations, Phonons, Debye's theory
of specific heat of solids, Specific heat of diatomic gases and its variation with temperature.
Books Recommended:
1. D.P Khandelwal & S.Loknathan "Thermodynamics, Heat and Statistical Physics"
2. Sharma and Sarkar K.K " Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics"
3. Brijlal and Subrahmanyam "Heat and Thermodynamics"
4. Saha and Srivastav "Treatise on Heat"
Second Paper : Optics
M.M.-33
Note: This question paper consists of three Sections. Section-A consists of fourteen objective
type questions bearing ½ mark each, all questions are compulsory. Section-B consists of ten short
answer type questions bearing 2 marks each, attempt any seven questions from this section.
Section-C consists of six long answer type questions bearing 4 marks each and attempt any three
questions from this section. Questions are to be attempted sequentially as far as possible. All the
symbols used have their usual meanings.
Unit 1: Geometrical Optics
Fermat's Principle : Principle of extremum path and its application to deduce laws of reflection
and refraction, Aplanatic Points of a Sphere, Gauss's general theory of image formation: coaxial
symmetrical system, Cardinal points of an optical system, general relationships, thick lens and
lens combination, Lagrange equation of magnification, telescopic combinations, telephoto
lenses.
Unit 2: Optical Instruments
Entrance and exit pupils, need for a multiple lens eyepiece, Ramsden's , Huygen's and Gaussian
eyepieces, Astronomical refractive telescope, spectrometer, Aberration in images: chromatic
aberration, achromatic combination of lenses in contact and separated lenses, Monochromatic
aberrations and their reduction: aspherical mirrors and Schmidt corrector plates, Aplanatic
points, oil immersion objective meniscus lens.
Unit 3: Physical Optics
Interference of light: The principle of superposition, two slit interference, coherence
requirement for the sources, optical path retardations, Interference with multiple reflection,
thin films, application for precision measurements, Haidinger fringes: fringes of equal
inclination, Michelson interferometer and its application for precision measurements of
wavelength, Wavelength difference and width of spectral lines, Twyman-Green interferometer
and its uses, Intensity distribution in multiple beam interference, Tolansky fringes, Fabry-Perot
interferometer and Etalon.
Unit 4: Diffraction
Fresnel's Diffraction: Fresnel's half period zones, straight edge, circular aperture or disc, rectilinear propagation, Zone plates.
Fraunhofer Diffraction: Diffraction of a single slit, Phasor diagrams and integral calculus methods, the intensity distribution, diffraction by circular aperture, Resolution of images, Rayleigh criterion, resolving
power of telescopes, and microscopic systems, Outline of phase contrast microscopy,
Diffraction of 2- slits and N-slits, Intensity distribution, phase diffraction grating, reflection
grating and blazed gratings, concave grating and different mountings, Resolution power of a
grating and comparison with resolving powers of prisms and Fabry-Perot etalon.
Unit 5: Polarization of light
Concept of plane polarized light, circularly and elliptically polarized light, Malus law, Brewster's
law, Double refraction: refraction and uniaxial crystals, its electromagnetic theory, phase
retardation plates, double image prism, Application of Birefringence, Dichroism. Production and
analysis of polarized light, Polaroid and wire grid polarizer, optical rotation: Rotation of plane of
Polarization, origin of optical rotation in liquids and in crystals, polarimeter- half shade and
biquartz devices.
Books Recommended:
1. D.K Khandelwal "Optics and Atomic Physics"
2. Jenkins and White "Fundamentals of Optics"
3. A.K. Ghatak "Physical Optics"
4. K.D. Moltev "Optics"
5. Brijlal and Subrahmanyam "Optics"
6.B.K. Mathur "Optics"
Third Paper : Solid State Physics and Statistical Mechanics
M.M.-34
Note: This question paper consists of three Sections. Section-A consists of sixteen objective type
questions bearing ½ mark each, all questions are compulsory. Section-B consists of ten short answer
type questions bearing 2 marks each, attempt any seven questions from this section. Section-C
consists of six long answer type questions bearing 4 marks each and attempt any three questions
from this section. Questions are to be attempted sequentially as far as possible. All the symbols used
have their usual meanings.
Solid State Physics:-
Unit1: Crystals
Single crystals and polycrystalline forms, Lattice, Basis and crystal structure, Translational
symmetry and basis Vectors. Unit Cell(primitive and non-primitive),Two dimensional point
groups and Bravais lattices, Miller indices ,sc, bcc, and sodium chloride structures, closed
packed structures(fcc and hcp),Reciprocal lattice ,X-ray diffraction, Bragg's law, Laue and
Powder method of X-ray diffraction, Introduction of electron and neutron diffraction.
Unit2: Lattice Vibrations
Vibrations of an elastic homogeneous line and mono-atomic lattice, concept of lattice phonons
. Free electron theory of metals: Outline and limitations of Lorentz-Drude theory, Sommerfeld
theory of free electrons, Specific heat and paramagnetism of free electrons, Results of Kronig-
Penny model, Distinction between conductors, semiconductors and insulators, Intrinsic and
Extrinsic semiconductors.
Statistical Mechanics:-
Unit3: The Statistical basis of thermodynamics
Probability and thermodynamic probability ,Postulates of equal a priori probability ,probability
distribution and its narrowing with increase in number of particles, Ensemble and Average
properties, Equilibrium and fluctuations, Constraints, Distribution of particles with a given total
energy into a discrete set of energy states.
Unit4: Some Universal Laws
The mu-space representation. division of mu-space into energy sheets and into phase cells of
arbitrary size, application to one dimensional harmonic oscillator and free particles ,
Equilibrium between two systems in thermal contact -the Beta parameter, Entropy and
probability - Boltzmann entropy relation, Statistical interpretation of second law of
thermodynamics, Boltzmann canonical law and its applications, Rigorous form of equipartition
of energy, some numerical exercises on canonical distribution.
Unit 5: Maxwellian Distribution of speeds in an ideal gas
Distribution of speeds and velocities, Distinction between mean, rms and most probable speed
values, Doppler broadening of spectral lines. Transition to quantum statistics: ’h’ as a natural
constant and its implications, indistinguishability of particles and its consequences, Bose-
Einstein and Fermi -Dirac condensation, Applications to liquid helium, free electrons in a metal
and photons in black body chamber, Fermi level and Fermi energy .
Books Recommended :
1. B.B. Laud "Introduction to Statistical Mechanics" (Macmillan 1981).
2. Bhattacharjee J.K. " Statistical Physics" (Allied Publishers 1997).
3. F.Reif " Statistical Physics" (McGraw- Hill 1988).
4. K. Haung " Statistical Physics" (Wiley Eastern 1988)
5. Kamal Singh "Elements of Statistical Mechanics" (S.Chand & Co).
6. A.J. Dekker "Solid State Physics" (Macmillan 2008)
7. C. Kittel "Introduction to Solid State Physics V -vol" (John Wiley and Sons)
8. Pillai S.O. "Solid State Physics" (New Age International 2005)
9. Gupta, Kumar and Saxena "Fundamental of solid State Physics" (Pragati Prakashan).
PDF of Physics Syllabus of B.Sc. II of Kumaun University
SOURCE : Kumaun University
