Laws and properties:

1. Newton’s law of universal gravitation: Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every
other particle with a force which is directly proportional to the product of the masses and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them and acts along the line joining them.

2. Kepler's laws of planetary motion:

1. Kepler’s first aw or the law of orbits: The orbit of a planet about the sun is an ellipse with
the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
2. Kepler’s second law or the law of areas: the straight line joining a planet and the Sun
sweeps out equal areas in space in equal intervals of time.
3. Kepler’s third law or the law of periods: The cube of the semi major axis of the planet’s
orbit is directly proportional to the square of the planet’s period of revolution.

3. Principle of conservation of angular momentum: The angular momentum of a body is conserved

if the resultant external torque acting on the body is zero.

4. Theorem of parallel axis: The moment of inertia of a body about an axis is equal to the sum of (i)
its moment of inertia about a parallel axis through its centre of mass and (ii) the product of the mass
of the body and the square of the distance between the two axes.

5. Theorem of Perpendicular axes: The moment of inertia of a plane lamina about an axis
perpendicular to its plane is equal to the sum of its moment of inertia about two mutually
perpendicular axes in its plane and through the point of intersection of the perpendicular axis and the
lamina.

6. Laws of simple pendulum: The period of a simple pendulum of a given place is given by
T=2π√L/g, where L is the length of the simple pendulum and g is the acceleration due to gravity at
that place. From the above expression, the laws of simple pendulum are as follows:

1. Law of length: The period of a simple pendulum at a given place is directly proportional to the
square root of its length.
2. Law of acceleration due to gravity: The period of a simple pendulum of a given length is
inversely proportional to the square root of the acceleration due to gravity.
3. Law of mass: The period of a simple pendulum does not depend on the mass or material of the
bob of the simple pendulum.
4. Law of isochronous oscillations: The period of a simple pendulum does not depend on the
amplitude of oscillations, if the amplitude is small.

7. Differential equation of linear S.H.M.: The differential equation of linear S.H.M. is d2x/dt2 + (k/m)

x = 0 where d2x/dt2 is the acceleration of the particle, x is the displacement of the particle, m is the
mass of the particle and k is the force constant. We know that k/m = ω 2 where ω is the angular
frequency.

8. Hooke’s law: Within the elastic limit the stress developed in the body is directly proportional to the
strain produced in it.

9. Laplace’s law for a spherical membrane: In the case of a small spherical liquid drop of radius R,
the excess pressure inside the drop is given by p-p0 = 2T/R, where p is the pressure inside the liquid
drop, p0 is the pressure outside the liquid drop and T is the surface tension of the liquid.
10. Principle of superposition of waves: The displacement of a particle at a given point in space and
time due to the simultaneous influence of two or more waves is the vector sum of the displacement
due to each wave acting independently.

11. Laws of vibrating strings: The fundamental frequency of vibration of a stretched string or wire is
given by n=1/2L√T/m, where L is the vibrating length, m the mass per unit length of the string and T
the tension in the string. From the above expression, the three laws of vibrating strings are as follows:

1. Law of length: The fundamental frequency of vibration of a stretched string is inversely

proportional to its vibrating length, if the tension and mass per unit length are kept constant.
2. Law of tension: The fundamental frequency of vibration of a stretched string is directly
proportional to the square root of the applied tension, if the length and mass per unit length are
kept constant.
3. Law of mass: The fundamental frequency of vibration of a stretched string is inversely
proportional to the square root of the mass per unit length, if the length and tension are kept
constant.

12. Avogadro’s law [or hypothesis]: at a constant temperature and pressure, the number of molecules
per unit volume is the same for all gases.

13. Charle's law: at a constant pressure, the volume of fixed mass of gas is directly proportional to its
absolute temperature.

14. Dalton’s law of partial pressures: the total pressure of a mixture of non-reacting gases is equal to the
sum of their partial pressures.

15. Boyle’s law: at a constant temperature ‘the pressure exerted by a fixed mass of gas is inversely
proportional to its volume.

16. Law of equipartition of energy: the average energy associated with each quadratic term in the energy
of a molecule in a large sample of gas in thermal equipartition at a temperature T is ½ kb T, where kb is the
Boltzmann constant.

17. Zeroth law of thermodynamics: if three systems, P, Q and R, are such that P and q are in thermal
equilibrium and also P and R are in thermal equilibrium, then q and R are also in thermal equilibrium. OR

Two systems separately in thermal equilibrium with a third system are in thermal equilibrium with each
other.

18. First law of thermodynamics: if heat is supplied to a system capable of doing external work, the
increase in its internal energy equals the heat supplied to the system minus the external work done by the
system.

If dQ is the heat supplied to a system and DW is the external work done by the system, the increase in the
internal energy of the system is

dE = dQ – dW dQ = dE + dW

Which is the differential form of the first law of thermodynamics where all quantities are expressed in the
same units.

19. Second law of thermodynamics: no thermodynamics cycle is possible whose sole result is the
absorption of energy as heat from a reservoir and the complete conversion of this energy into work.
 OR

No engine is possible that converts the heat absorbed from one reservoir into work without rejecting some
heat to a reservoir to a lower temperature.

20. Wien displacement law: for a blackbody at an absolute temperature T, the pro duct of T and the
wavelength corresponding to the maximum radiation of energy is a constant.

21. Stefan’s law of radiation: the quantity of radiant energy emitted by a perfect blackbody per unit time
per unit surface area of the body is directly proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature.

22. Kirchhoff’s law of radiation: at a given temperature, the coefficient of absorption of a body is equal to
its coefficient of emission .

23. Newton’s law of cooling: the rate of loss of heat by a body is directly proportional to its excess of
temperature over the surroundings, provided the excess is small.

24. Laws of reflection:

1) The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

2) The incident ray and the reflected ray lie on the opposite sides of the normal to the reflecting surface at
the point of incidence and all of them lie in the same plane.

25. Laws of refraction:

1) The refractive index of medium 2 with respect to medium 1; 1n2 = sin i / sin r = constant for a given
pair of media and a given frequency of incidence light, where i is the angle of incidence and r is the angle of
refraction .

2) The incident ray and the refracted ray lie on the opposite sides of the normal to the refracting surface
at the point of incidence and all of them lie in the same plane.

26. Brewster’s law : The tangent of the polarising angle is equal to the refractive index of the reflecting
medium with respect to the surrounding ( 1 n 2) ; tan ip = n2 = n2/n1 , where ip is polarising angle, n1 is
the absolute refractive index of the surrounding and n2 is that of the reflecting medium .

27. Gauss’s theorem: The total electric induction (TNEI) over a closed surface is equal to the algebraic
sum of the charges, i.e., the net charge, enclosed by the surface.

28. Kirchhoff’s laws for electrical circuit: Kirchhoff’s circuital laws when steady currents are passing in
an electrical network are as follows:

1. Kirchhoff’s first law (or current law or junction law): The algebraic sum of the currents at any
junction is zero.

2. Kirchhoff’s second law (or voltage law or loop law): Around a closed loop of an electrical network,
the algebraic sum of the emfs and the potential differences across all the circuit elements in that loop is
zero.

30. Sign convention for the first: A current entering the junction is taken as positive while a current
leaving the junction is taken as negative.

31. Sign convention for the second law:

1) In going round a loop, If we transverse a resistor in the direction of the current it, the potential difference
(p.d.) across the resistor is taken as negative because there would be a decrease in potential as we go from
a point of higher potential to appoint of lower potential . The p.d. is taken as positive if the direction in
while we traversed the resistance is opposite to the current through it.

2) The emf of a cell is taken as positive when we traverse the cell from its negative terminal to the positive
terminal while it is taken as negative when traversed in the opposite direction.

Kirchhoff’s first law is based on the law of conservation of charge. Kirchhoff’s second law is based on the
law of conservation of energy.

32. Ampere’s circuital law: In free space, the line internal of magnetic induction around a closed path in a
magnetic field is equal to times the net steady current enclosed by the path, where is the permeability of
free space.

34. Curie’s law of paramagnetism: The magnetization of a paramagnetic material is directly proportional
to the external magnetic field and inversely proportional to the absolute temperature of the material.

35. Faraday's laws of electromagnetic induction:

1) First law: Whenever there is a change in the magnetic flux associated with a circuit, an emf is induced in
the circuit.

2) Second law: The magnitude of the induced emf is directly proportional to the time rate of change of
magnetic flux through the circuit.

In the usual notation

36. Len’s law: The direction of the induced current is such as to oppose the change that produces it. The
change that induces the current may be (i) the motion of a conductor in a magnetic field or (ii) the change
of the magnetic flux through a stationary circuit.

37. Principle of transformer: A transformer works on the principle that a changing current through one
coil creates a changing magnetic flux through an adjacent coil which in turn induces an emf and a current in
the second coil.

38. Decay law (Radioactive decay): At any instant, the rate of radioactive disintegration in directly
proportional to the number of nuclei of the radioactive element present at that instant.