IPhO Syllabus

                Adopted in Portoroz, Yugoslavia, June 1985
                  Modified in: Warsaw, Poland, July 1989
                               Havana, Cuba, July 1991

a) The extensive use of the calculus (differentiation and integration) and
   the use of complex numbers or solving differential equations should not
   be required to solve the theoretical and practical problems.

b) Questions may contain concepts and phenomena not contained in the
   Syllabus but sufficient information must be given in the questions so
   that candidates without previous knowledge of these topics would not be
   at a disadvantage.

c) Sophisticated practical equipment likely to be unfamiliar to the
   candidates should not dominate a problem. If such devices are used then
   careful instructions must be given to the candidates.

d) The original texts of the problems have to be set in the SI units.


                             A. Theoretical Part

                 Adopted in Portoroz, Yugoslavia, June 1985
                    Modified in Warsaw, Poland, July 1989

The first column contains the main entries while the second column contains
comments and remarks if necessary.

                                1. Mechanics

a) Foundation of kinematics of a point  |Vector description of the position
   mass                                 |of the point mass, velocity and
                                        |acceleration as vectors

b) Newton's laws, inertial systems      |Problems may be set on changing
                    |mass

c) Closed and open systems, momentum    |
   and energy, work, power              |

d) Conservation of energy, conservation |
   of linear momentum, impulse          |

e) Elastic forces, frictional forces,   |Hooke's law, coefficient of
   the law of gravitation, potential    |friction (F/R = const), frictional
   energy and work in a gravitational   |forces, static and kinetic, choice
   field                                |of zero of potential energy

f) Centripetal acceleration, Kepler's   |
   laws                                 |

                        2. Mechanics of Rigid Bodies

a) Statics, center of mass, torque      |Couples, conditions of equilibrium
                                        |of bodies

b) Motion of rigid bodies, translation, |Conservation of angular momentum
   rotation, angular velocity, angular  |about fixed axis only
   acceleration, conservation of        |
   angular momentum                     |

c) External and internal forces,        |Parallel axes theorem (Steiner's
   equation of motion of a rigid body   |theorem), additivity of the moment
   around the fixed axis, moment of     |of inertia
   inertia, kinetic energy of a rotating|
   body                                 |

d) Accelerated reference systems,       |Knowledge of the Coriolis force
   inertial forces                      |formula is not required

                              3. Hydromechanics

  No specific questions will be set on this but students would be expected
  to know the elementary concepts of pressure, buoyancy and the continuity
  law.

                   4. Thermodynamics and Molecular Physics

a) Internal energy, work and heat,      |Thermal equilibrium, quantities
   first and second laws of             |depending on state and quantities
   thermodynamics                       |depending on process

b) Model of a perfect gas, pressure and |Also molecular approach to such
   molecular kinetic energy, Avogadro's |simple phenomena in liquids and
   number, equation of state of a       |solids as boiling, melting etc.
   perfect gas, absolute temperature    |

c) Work done by an expanding gas        |Proof of the equation of the
   limited to isothermal and adiabatic  |adiabatic process is not required
   processes                            |

d) The Carnot cycle, thermodynamic      |Entropy as a path independent
   efficiency, reversible and           |function, entropy changes and
   irreversible processes, entropy      |reversibility, quasistatic
   (statistical approach), Boltzmann    |processes
   factor                               |

                          5. Oscillations and waves

a) Harmonic oscillations, equation of   |Solution of the equation for
   harmonic oscillation                 |harmonic motion, attenuation and
                                        |resonance - qualitatively

b) Harmonic waves, propagation of       |Displacement in a progressive wave
   waves, transverse and longitudinal   |and understanding of graphical
   waves, linear polarization, the      |representation of the wave,
   classical Doppler effect, sound      |measurements of velocity of sound
   waves                                |and light, Doppler effect in one
                                        |dimension only, propagation of
                                        |waves in homogeneous and isotropic
                                        |media, reflection and refraction,
                                        |Fermat's principle

c) Superposition of harmonic waves,     |Realization that intensity of wave
   coherent waves, interference, beats, |is proportional to the square of
   standing waves                       |its amplitude. Fourier analysis is
                                        |not required but candidates should
                                        |have some understanding that
                                        |complex waves can be made from
                                        |addition of simple sinusoidal waves
                                        |of different frequencies.
                                        |Interference due to thin films and
                                        |other simple systems (final
                    |formulae are not required),
                                        |superposition of waves from
                                        |secondary sources (diffraction)

                    6. Electric Charge and Electric Field

a) Conservation of charge, Coulomb's    |
   law                                  |

b) Electric field, potential, Gauss'    |Gauss' law confined to simple
   law                                  |symmetric systems like sphere,
                                        |cylinder, plate etc., electric
                                        |dipole moment

c) Capacitors, capacitance, dielectric  |
   constant, energy density of electric |
   field                                |

                        7. Current and Magnetic Field

a) Current, resistance, internal        |Simple cases of circuits containing
   resistance of source, Ohm's law,     |non-ohmic devices with known V-I
   Kirchhoff's laws, work and power of  |characteristics
   direct and alternating currents,     |
   Joule's law                          |

b) Magnetic field (B) of a current,     |Particles in a magnetic field,
   current in a magnetic field,         |simple applications like cyclotron,
   Lorentz force                        |magnetic dipole moment

c) Ampere's law                         |Magnetic field of simple symmetric
                                        |systems like straight wire,
                                        |circular loop and long solenoid

d) Law of electromagnetic induction,    |
   magnetic flux, Lenz's law,           |
   self-induction, inductance,          |
   permeability, energy density of      |
   magnetic field                       |

e) Alternating current, resistors,      |Simple AC-circuits, time constants,
   inductors and capacitors in          |final formulae for parameters of
   AC-circuits, voltage and current     |concrete resonance circuits are not
   (parallel and series) resonances     |required

                          8. Electromagnetic waves

a) Oscillatory circuit, frequency of    |
   oscillations, generation by feedback |
   and resonance                        |

b) Wave optics, diffraction from one    |
   and two slits, diffraction grating,  |
   resolving power of a grating, Bragg  |
   reflection,                          |

c) Dispersion and diffraction spectra,  |
   line spectra of gases                |

d) Electromagnetic waves as transverse  |Superposition of polarized waves
   waves, polarization by reflection,   |
   polarizers                           |

e) Resolving power of imaging systems   |

f) Black body, Stefan-Boltzmanns law    |Planck's formula is not required

                             9. Quantum Physics

a) Photoelectric effect, energy and     |Einstein's formula is required
   impulse of the photon                |

b) De Broglie wavelength, Heisenberg's  |
   uncertainty principle                |

                               10. Relativity

a) Principle of relativity, addition of |
   velocities, relativistic Doppler     |
   effect                               |

b) Relativistic equation of motion,     |
   momentum, energy, relation between   |
   energy and mass, conservation of     |
   energy and momentum                  |

                                 11. Matter

a) Simple applications of the Bragg     |
   equation                             |

b) Energy levels of atoms and molecules |
   (qualitatively), emission,           |
   absorption, spectrum of hydrogenlike |
   atoms                                |

c) Energy levels of nuclei              |
   (qualitatively), alpha-, beta- and   |
   gamma-decays, absorption of          |
   radiation, halflife and exponential  |
   decay, components of nuclei, mass    |
   defect, nuclear reactions            |


                              B. Practical Part

            Adopted in London-Harrow, United Kingdom, July 1986


  The Theoretical Part of the Syllabus provides the basis for all the
  experimental problems. The experimental problems given in the experimental
  contest should contain measurements.

     Additional requirements:

1. Candidates must be aware that instruments affect measurements.

2. Knowledge of the most common experimental techniques for measuring
   physical quantities mentioned in Part A.

3. Knowledge of commonly used simple laboratory instruments and devices
   such as calipers, thermometers, simple volt-, ohm- and ammeters,
   potentiometers, diodes, transistors, simple optical devices and so on.

4. Ability to use, with the help of proper instruction, some sophisticated
   instruments and devices such as double-beam oscilloscope, counter,
   ratemeter, signal and function generators, analog-to-digital converter
   connected to a computer, amplifier, integrator, differentiator, power
   supply, universal (analog and digital) volt-, ohm- and ammeters.

5. Proper identification of error sources and estimation of their influence
   on the final result(s).

6. Absolute and relative errors, accuracy of measuring instruments, error of
   a single measurement, error of a series of measurements, error of a
   quantity given as a function of measured quantities.

7. Transformation of a dependence to the linear form by appropriate choice
   of variables and fitting a straight line to experimental points.

8. Proper use of the graph paper with different scales (for example polar
   and logarithmic papers).

9. Correct rounding off and expressing the final result(s) and error(s) with
   correct number of significant digits.

10. Standard knowledge of safety in laboratory work. (Nevertheless, if the
    experimental set-up contains any safety hazards the appropriate warnings
    should be included into the text of the problem.)