Physical Chemistry Chapters in NEET
Physical Chemistry forms an important and major part of the NEET exam syllabus. Medical aspirants preparing to appear for NEET 2025 must prepare for the Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET to get a good score in the Chemistry section and the entire exam. As per the revised syllabus of NEET, certain chapters have been removed, whereas a few topics have been added or modified. The NEET 2025 syllabus is expected to remain the same as last year.
NEET Chemistry syllabus is segregated into Physical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry sections. The Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET constitute approximately 40 per cent weightage in the Chemistry subject questions. Hence, it is of utmost importance for students to give major attention and priority to the Physical Chemistry chapters of NEET.
NEET is the only and most competitive undergraduate medical entrance exam. It tests candidates’ calibre in three subjects – Chemistry, Physics and Biology. The Chemistry subject carries 45 questions out of 180 questions that are to be attempted. As per the new NEET exam pattern, the Chemistry section will carry 50 questions (35 in Section A and 15 in Section B), out of which candidates will have to attempt 45 questions (10 out of 15 questions in Section B).
The NEET 2025 exam is expected to be conducted in the first week of May 2024. Although NTA is yet to make the official announcement, it can be assumed that less than six months are left for the exam, aspirants must involve themselves in the NEET 2025 preparation in full throttle. In this article of Shiksha, we bring to you the important Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET 2025.
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Physical Chemistry Chapters for NEET - Unit-wise Topics
The total Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET include eight units in the Physical Chemistry syllabus for NEET. The detailed syllabus of this section is given below.
Unit I: Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry
Matter and its nature, Dalton's atomic theory: Concept of atom, molecule, element. and compound. Laws of chemical combination; Atomic and molecular masses, mole concept, molar mass, percentage composition, empirical and molecular formulae: Chemical equations and
stoichiometry.
Unit II: Atomic Structure
Nature of electromagnetic radiation, photoelectric effect; Spectrum of the hydrogen atom. Bohr model of a hydrogen atom - its postulates, derivation of the relations for the energy of the electron and radii of the different orbits, limitations of Bohr's model; Dual nature of matter, de Broglie's relationship. Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Elementary ideas of quantum mechanics, quantum mechanics, the quantum mechanical model of the atom, its important features. Concept of atomic orbitals as one-electron wave functions: Variation of Ψ and Ψ 2 with r for 1s and 2s orbitals: various quantum numbers (principal, angular momentum, and magnetic quantum numbers) and their significance; shapes of s, p, and d - orbitals, electron spin and spin quantum number: Rules for filling electrons in orbits - Aufbau principle. Pauli's exclusion principle and Hund's rule, electronic configuration of elements, extra stability of half-filled and completely filled orbitals.
Unit III: Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure
Kossel-Lewis approach to chemical bond formation, the concept of ionic and covalent bonds.
Ionic Bonding: Formation of ionic bonds, factors affecting the formation of ionic bonds; calculation of lattice enthalpy.
Covalent Bonding: Concept of electronegativity. Fajan's rule, dipole moment: Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) theory and shapes of simple molecules.
Quantum mechanical approach to covalent bonding: Valence bond theory - its important features. the concept of hybridization involving s, p, and d orbitals; Resonance.
Molecular orbital Theory - Its important features. LCAOs, types of molecular orbitals (bonding, antibonding), sigma and pi-bonds, molecular orbital electronic configurations of homonuclear diatomic molecules, the concept of bond order, bond length, and bond energy.
Elementary idea of metallic bonding. Hydrogen bonding and its applications.
Unit IV: Chemical Thermodynamics
Fundamentals of thermodynamics: System and surroundings, extensive and intensive properties' state functions, types of processes.
The first law of thermodynamics - Concept of work, heat internal energy and enthalpy, heat capacity, molar heat capacity; Hess's law of constant heat summation; Enthalpies of bond dissociation, combustion' formation, atomization. sublimation. phase transition, hydration. ionization. and solution.
The second raw of thermodynamics - Spontaneity of processes: AS of the universe and AC of the system as criteria for spontaneity. Standard Gibbs energy change and equilibrium constant.
The following paragraphs bring the important topics from the NEET syllabus 2024 for Chemistry and their weightage.
Unit V: Solutions
Different methods for expressing the concentration of solution - molality, molarity, mole fraction. percentage (by volume and mass both), the vapour pressure of solutions and Raoult's law - Ideal and. non-ideal solutions, vapour pressure - composition, plots for ideal and non-ideal solutions: colligative properties of dilute solutions - a relative lowering of vapour pressure, depression of freezing point, the elevation of.boiling point and osmotic pressure; Determination of molecular mass using colligative properties; Abnormal value of molar mass, Van't Hoff Factor and its significance.
Unit VI: Equilibrium
Meaning of equilibrium, the concept of dynamic equilibrium.
Equilibria involving physical processes: Solid-liquid, liquid - gas and solid-gas equilibria, Henry's law. General characteristics of equilibrium involving physical processes.
Equilibrium involving chemical processes: Law of chemical equilibrium, equilibrium constants (Kp and Kc) and their significance, the significance of ΔG and ΔG° in chemical equilibrium, factors affecting equilibrium concentration, pressure, temperature, the effect of catalyst; Le Chatelier's principle.
Ionic equilibrium: weak. and strong electrolytes, ionization of electrolytes, various concepts of acids and bases (Arrhenius and Bronsted - Lowry and Lewis) and their ionization, acid-base equilibria (including multistage ionization) and ionization constants, ionization of water. PH scale, common ion effect, hydrolysis of salts and PH of their solutions, the solubility of sparingly soluble salts and solubility products, buffer solutions.
Unit VII: Redox Reactions and Electrochemistry
Electronic concepts of oxidation-reduction, redox reactions, oxidation numbers, rules for assigning oxidation numbers, balancing of redox reactions.
Electrolytic and metallic conduction, conductance in electrolytic solutions, molar conductivities and their variation with concentration, Kohlrausch's law and its applications.
Electrochemical Cells - Electrolytic and Galvanic cells, different types of electrodes, electrode potentials including standard electrode potential, half-cell and cell reactions, emf of a Galvanic cell and its measurement: Nernst equation and its applications; Relationship between cell potential and Gibbs' energy change: Dry cell and lead accumulator; Fuel cells.
Unit VIII: Chemical Kinetics
Rate of a chemical reaction, factors affecting the rate of reactions: concentration, temperature, pressure, and catalyst; elementary and complex reactions, order and molecularity of reactions, rate law, rate constants and its units, differential and integral forms of zero and first-order reactions, their characteristics and half lives, the effect of temperature on the rate of reactions, Arrhenius theory, activation energy and its calculation, collision theory of bimolecular gaseous reactions (no derivation).
Physical Chemistry Chapters Removed from NEET 2024 Syllabus
The following units or chapters have been removed from the Physical Chemistry chapters of the NEET 2024 syllabus.
Units |
Chapters |
Some Basic Concepts of Chemistry |
General Introduction: Important and scope of chemistry. |
Structure of Atom |
Atomic number, isotopes and isobars, Concept of shells and subshells, dual nature of matter and light. |
Environmental Chemistry |
Environmental pollution: Air, water and soil pollution, chemical reactions in atmosphere, smogs, major atmospheric pollutants; acid rain ozone and its reactions, effects of depletion of ozone layer, greenhouse effect and global warming-pollution due to industrial wastes; green chemistry as an alternative tool for reducing pollution, strategy for control of environmental pollution. |
Chemistry in Everyday Life |
• Chemicals in medicines- analgesics, tranquillizers, antiseptics, disinfectants, antimicrobials, antifertility drugs, antibiotics, antacids, antihistamines. • Chemicals in food- preservatives, artificial sweetening agents, elementary idea of antioxidants. • Cleansing agents- soaps and detergents, cleansing action. |
Surface Chemistry |
Adsorption-physisorption and chemisorption; factors affecting adsorption of gases on solids, catalysis homogeneous and heterogeneous, activity and selectivity: enzyme catalysis; colloidal state: distinction between true solutions, colloids and suspensions; lyophilic, lyophobic multimolecular and macromolecular colloids; properties of colloids; Tyndall effect, Brownian movement, electrophoresis, coagulation; emulsions- types of emulsions. |
Physical Chemistry Chapters for NEET - Class-wise Weightage
As the NEET syllabus includes chapters from both Class 11 and Class 12, the following table brings the weightage of the Physical Chemistry NEET syllabus from Class 11 and Class 12 from Section A and Section B.
Section |
Physical Chemistry Questions from Class 11 |
Physical Chemistry Questions from Class 12 |
Section A |
5 |
6 |
Section B |
2 |
3 |
Physical Chemistry for NEET - Chapter-wise Weightage
The table below enlists the topics from the Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET along with the tentative weightage in percentage.
Chemistry Chapters and Topics |
Average No. of Questions from the Chapter |
Weightage of the Chapter and Topic |
Physical Chemistry |
20 |
40% |
Chemical Equilibrium
- Reaction Quotient and its Applications
- KC and KP for Homogeneous Reaction
- Degree of dissociation and vapour density
|
3
|
6%
|
Chemical Kinetics
- Effect of Temperature, Arrhenius equation
|
3
|
6%
|
Electrochemistry
|
2
|
4%
|
Ionic Equilibrium
|
1
|
2%
|
Mole Concept
- Units, Atoms, Molecules, Atomic mass, Molecular mass, Gram atomic mass, Gram molecular mass, RAM, Average atomic mass
- Limiting Reagent (LR)
- Percentage composition and Molecular and Empirical formula
|
3
|
6%
|
Solution Colligative Properties
|
2
|
4%
|
Atomic Structure
|
2
|
4%
|
Redox Reaction
- Types of Redox reaction, Balancing of redox reactions, Oxidizing and Reducing agent
|
1
|
2%
|
Thermodynamics
- Thermodynamic functions and Thermodynamic processes
- IInd Law of thermodynamics: Basics of entropy, Entropy calculation for different types of physical process of an ideal gas, chemical reaction
- Calculation of ∆E, ∆H, w and θ in different types of physical processes
|
3
|
6%
|
Note: The above table carries topic-wise weightages based on last year's NEET exam. Candidates may use it for reference by omitting the removed topics.
Physical Chemistry Chapters in NEET - Difficulty Level
As per last year’s NEET analysis, the difficulty level of the questions in Section A was easy to moderate, whereas that of Section B was easy. The below table brings the difficulty level of the Physical Chemistry chapters in NEET for Class 11 and Class 12 syllabi for both sections.
Section A
The following table brings the topic-wise number and difficulty level of the Chemistry questions that appeared in Section A.
Topics |
Easy |
Medium |
Difficult |
Total |
Physical Chemistry Class 11 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
Physical Chemistry Class 12 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
Section B
This section was of easy to moderate difficulty level with a uniform distribution of questions.
Topics |
Easy |
Medium |
Difficult |
Total |
Physical Chemistry Class 11 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
Physical Chemistry Class 12 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
Best Books for NEET Physical Chemistry
Some of the best Physical Chemistry books for NEET are as follows:
- Wiley's Physical Chemistry for NEET by Vipul Mehta
- Problems in Physical Chemistry for NEET with NCERT Exemplar by Narendra Awasthi
- A Textbook of Physical Chemistry for NEET by Dr OP Tandon and Dr AS SIngh
- Beat the NEET Physical Chemistry for NEET by Sailajananda Raychaudhuri
Aspirants preparing for NEET Chemistry 2025 must be thorough with the above-mentioned Physical Chemistry chapters to score well in the exam. It is the best time to identify strengths and weaknesses. Based on the weightages, students can decide which topics to prepare for.
Preparation Tips for NEET Physical Chemistry Chapters
The basic tips to prepare for Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET are as follows:
Complete the syllabus thoroughly: Students are advised to carefully go through the NEET Physical Chemistry syllabus and analyse the details. They should assess the strengths and weaknesses in the Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET and assign the necessary time and effort to prepare for those.
Get the right books and study materials: Students should refer to the important books and study materials to prepare for the Physical Chemistry chapters for NEET. Specific books for NEET Physical Chemistry are mentioned above. Before referring to other books, aspirants must ensure that they have completed their NCERT books and study materials.
Memorise formulae and Periodic Table: Since the Physical Chemistry aspect involves formulae and periodic table, it is important to memorise the important symbols and formulae. Candidates can use the visualisation technique by using flashcards, posters, etc.
Solve previous years' NEET question papers: Solving previous years' NEET question papers will give ample exposure to candidates regarding the question types to expect. Aspirants are advised to cull out the Physical Chemistry question papers and solve those. After solving the questions, they should check the accuracy by tallying the solutions and answer keys.
Read More:
FAQs Regarding Physical Chemistry Chapters in NEET
Q: How many chapters are there in the NEET Physical Chemistry section?
A: There are as many as eight units under the Physical Chemistry section of NEET. The NEET 2024 syllabus has undergone changes and a number of chapters have been removed or modified. As per the revised syllabus, instead of segregating it as per Class 11 and Class 12, the syllabus has been segregated into Physical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry.
Q: Which chapters are included in the Physical Chemistry for NEET?
A: Some of the prominent Physical Chemistry chapters included in the NEET syllabus are as follows:
- Chemical Bonding and Molecular Structure
- Atomic Structure and Nuclear Energy
- Thermodynamics
- Solid State
- Electrochemistry
Q: How many questions on Physical Chemistry will be asked in NEET?
A: There are approximately 11 questions from the Physical Chemistry section in NEET. Majority of the questions are asked from the Class 12 syllabus. The difficulty level of Physical Chemistry section is moderate.
Q: How to cover Physical Chemistry chapters in NEET?
A: The Physical Chemistry chapters in NEET can be prepared by following the below-given methods:
- Complete the Physical Chemistry syllabus
- Refer to NCERT textbooks primarily
- Know the topic-wise weightage and focus on the important topics
- Do regular practice and analyse your strengths and weaknesses
- Understand the memorise important formula
Apart from the above-mentioned points, go through previous years' NEET question papers to understand the question types and what to expect on exam day.
Does 12th score really matter for NEET? I got grace marks in 12th.