Indian National Physics Olympiad (INPhO) Exam

INPhO stands for The Indian National Physics Olympiad, which is held every year in June and July by the Indian Association Of Physics Teachers (IAPT). It is designed specifically for secondary school students who want to improve their understanding of Physics on a global scale. The success and pleasant experience of the International Mathematics Olympiads in 1959 led to Prof. Czeslaw Scilowski's introduction of Physics in Warsaw (Poland) in 1967. The IPhO is a competitive examination that acts as a standard for pre-university students studying Physics, encouraging good ties among them from all around the world. The primary goal of the INPhO test is to raise the standard of Physics education among students in the country and prepare them for INPhO.

The Indian National Physics Olympiad  is an international level competition in the discipline of Physics aimed at secondary school students (grades 11 and 12) to foster worldwide links in school education in Physics. The INPhO Exam is the second level of India's five-stage Olympiad programme in Physics. It is generally hosted on the last Sunday of January by the Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (HBCSE) (or on the first Sunday of February). In the end, qualifying for INPhO leads to selection for the International Physics Olympiad.

Best Reference Books for INPhO 2023-24 Exam Preparation

Below you will find a list of reference books for the Preparation of Physics Olympiad (INPhO and IPhO). Keep in mind that many below mentioned titles are in international languages for which English translations are also available-

• 32nd International Physics Olympiad– Proceedings, Sinan Kaan Yerti and Ibrahım Gunal

• Proceedings of the 33rd International Physics Olympiad

• Proceedings of the 34th International Physics Olympiad,

• SophiaYnagandMing−JueyLin−JessicaChang

• SophiaYnagandMing−JueyLin−JessicaChang

• Proceedings of 35th International Physics Olympiad

• Proceedings of 36th International Physics Olympiad

• International Physics Competitions and First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics- Waldemar Gorzkowski

• Medjunarodni Olimpijadi po Fizika, Viktor Urumov

• Medzunarodne Olimpijade iz Fizike, Boris Grbic- Marko Dzordzevic- Marko Stoshic - Mirjana Popovic-Bozic - 

• Gunter Lind- Physikalische Olympiade-Aufgaben

• Waldemar Gorzkowski- Andrzej Kotlicki - Lars Silverberg

• Recueil des Sujets de Concours des Olympiades Internationales de Physique 1967-1984

• Shen Ke-qi - Cong Shu-tong

How to Become an INPhO Exam Candidate

Students interested in taking the INPhO test do this by following the instructions given below.

• Students can go to the HBCSE's official website.

• The Olympiad option will be available.

• After that, the student must choose forthcoming events.

• Students can access INO by entering their NSE center code, their Roll Number, and their Date of Birth. NSE center codes, Roll Numbers, Date of birth information will also be required.

• At the time of registration, students will be offered the option of selecting an examination center.

Syllabus for INPhO

1. Mechanics: Newton's laws and inertial systems are the foundations of the kinematics of a point mass. Closed and open systems, momentum and energy, power work, and so forth. Energy conservation, impulse, and linear momentum conservation Elastic forces, gravitational law, frictional forces, potential energy, work in a gravitational field, centripetal acceleration, and Kepler's laws are all examples of elastic forces.

2. Rigid body mechanics: statics, torque, and the center of mass Translation, angular velocity, rotation, angular acceleration, and angular momentum conservation are all terms used to describe rigid body motion. This course covers subjects such as external and internal forces, equation of motion of a rigid body around a fixed axis, kinetic energy of a rotating body, moment of inertia, and accelerated reference systems and inertial forces.

3. There will be no specific questions in hydromechanics, but students should be familiar with the basic principles of continuity, buoyancy, and pressure.

4. Internal energy, thermodynamics' first and second laws, work and heat, and molecular thermodynamics Avogadro's number, absolute temperature, perfect gas model, pressure and molecular kinetic energy, perfect gas equation of state Work done by an expanding gas restricted to isothermal and adiabatic processes includes the Carnot cycle, reversible and irreversible processes, thermodynamic efficiency, entropy (statistical approach), and Boltzmann factor.

5. Internal energy, thermodynamics' first and second laws, work and heat, and molecular thermodynamics Avogadro's number, absolute temperature, perfect gas model, pressure and molecular kinetic energy, perfect gas equation of state Work done by an expanding gas restricted to isothermal and adiabatic processes includes the Carnot cycle, reversible and irreversible processes, thermodynamic efficiency, entropy (statistical approach), and Boltzmann factor.

6. Harmonic oscillations and their equations, harmonic waves, transverse and longitudinal waves, wave propagation, linear polarization, sound waves, the classical Doppler effect, and harmonic superposition, interference, coherent waves, standing waves, and beats are all topics covered in this chapter.

7. Coulomb's law, electric field, Gauss' law, potential, capacitors and capacitance, dielectric constant, and energy density of electric fields are all words that are used to define charge conservation.

8. The photoelectric effect, photon energy, photon impulse, De Broglie wavelength, and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle are all examples of quantum Physics.

9. The sum of velocities, the principle of relativity, and the relativistic Doppler effect are all examples of relativity. The relativistic equation of motion includes elements such as energy, momentum, the link between energy and mass, and the conservation of energy and momentum. The Bragg equation has a few straightforward applications. The energy levels of atoms and molecules, as well as absorption and the spectrum of hydrogen-like atom emission (qualitatively). Radiation absorption, nuclei's components, nuclear processes, and mass defect (qualitatively) alpha-beta-gamma-decays, half-life, and exponential decay, nuclei's components, nuclear processes, and mass defect.

10. Oscillatory circuit, feedback and resonance creation, frequency of oscillations, electromagnetic waves Wave optics, diffraction gratings, diffraction from one and two slits High resolving power, Bragg reflection Gas dispersion and diffraction spectra, as well as line spectra polarizers, polarization through reflection, and electromagnetic waves as transverse waves, are all examples of polarization. Black body and Stefan's law, Boltzmann's law, and imaging system resolving power.