Science and technology by Jawla Kumar (Unacademy)

Real Matter → It is a matter which interacts with electromagnetic radiations such as light. All the
galaxies, stars, plantes, moons, comets, meteors are real matter only. Real matter interacts with light
either by absorbing it or reflecting it or emitting light.

Dark matter → Which does not interact with electromagnetic radiation. However, they have mass.
Scientists have indirectly found evidence of Dark matter. Stars in a particular galaxy would have flown
out had dark matter not provided the necessary gravity.

Dark Energy → It is a force which is opposite to the nature of gravity but much stronger than it. And due
to this universe is expanding. In fact, it is causing accelerated expansion of the universe. Euclid mission
was sent in 2023 in space to study the dark universe. It was sent to Lagrange point 2 (L2)

Scientists have found that at centre of every

galaxy exist a black hole. Black is a region in a
space where even light cannot escape its gravity.

Light is used as a benchmark to measure

astronomical distances as speed of light is
constant in a particular medium. Space is
vacuum so speed of light is constant to measure
distances between celestial bodies.

Sun revolves around centre of black hole. Sun

has made 20 revolutions till now. That is 5 billion years. And is expected that it will make 20 more
revolution. That is, it will die 5 billion years from now.
 Cepheids are young stars where fusion is not
stabilised so it deems and brightens periodically.

What powers the sun? –Fusion of hydrogen

atoms into Helium powers the sun. 4 hydrogen
atoms fused to form a helium atom. For fusion to
happen the electromagnetic repulsions
between protons should be overcome. This can
happen only in the state of plasma. Plasma is
fourth state of matter, it is a super-heated matter
or gases where gases become ionised and then
fusion of protons can happen.

On fusion of Hydrogen to Helium there is a loss

of mass. And this loss of mass is converted into
energy. Just fusion of 4 H atom into He produces
enough energy to light a 60 W bulb for more than
100 years. Fusion is referred as future of energy.

The temperature inside sun is not sufficient to cause fusion of helium. Hydrogen is the fuel of Sun. The
composition keeps on changing as H getting converted into He. Once all the Hydrogen is exhausted the
Sun will die.

Structure of Sun
 • Core – it is a place where fusion of hydrogen takes place. It is the hottest part of the sun.
Temperature is sufficient to cause fusion of Hydrogen→ 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.
• Radiative and Convective Zone – These two zones help in transferring heat from the core to the
outer layers via radiation and convection respectively. So, the temperature starts decreasing
from the core as we move outwards till photosphere.
• Photosphere – It is the visible part of the sun. It is also referred as surface of Sun. It has a
temperature of about 5500-degree Fahrenheit.
• Chromosphere – It is thin layer which is invisible but it has very high magnetic field. This high
magnetic field controls the flow of charged particles (plasma inside sun). Sun’s magnetic poles
flip in every 11 years. In every 11 years we would observe Solar maximum. The previous solar
maximum was in 2024. During Solar max the Sun’s activity increases. That it releases more
charged particles in the solar system. We observe greater number of Solar flares – these are
erratic eruptions of plasma in the solar system. During solar max we also observe a greater
number of Sun spots (they are colder regions in the photo sphere) – As plasma is released in
greater volume so there are losses of plasma in particular section so we observe more sun spots.
These solar flares can be very damaging. For example, →it can destroy satellites that are in
space, it can affect the operation of international space station, threatening life of astronauts
there, it can affect the grid system, it can cause forest fires in some places, can cause auroras
in different parts of earth means other than North and South Poles also.
• Corona → Corona means Crown. It is the outermost part of the Sun. It is invisible except during
total solar eclipse. It is one of the least dense layers of Sun. It is hotter than previous layers.
Temperature is about few million degrees Fahrenheit. However, scientist do not understand why
Corona is hotter than previous layers.

Magnetic Reconnection → It is a fundamental process in which magnetic field of Sun and planet
interacts with each other to transfer heat and light. It is this phenomenon which is said to cause Auroras
on planets. Earth has a magnetic North Pole and South Pole. The magnetic field of earth creates a
magnetic shield which absorbs some and deflects charged particles coming from Sun. However, some
of these charged particles are funnelled to the North Pole and South Pole which interacts with the
atmospheric gases to produce coloured night sky. It is known as Aurora Borealis in North pole (Northern
Lights) and Aurora Australis in Southern Pole (Southern Lights).

Planets which have magnetic fields shows the phenomenon of Auroras. The strongest aurora is
observed in Jupiter because it has strongest magnetic field so more funnelling is happening there. All
outer planets have Auroras. And in inner planet only Earth has it.
Structure of Solar system

According to IAU a planet must satisfy the following criteria.

• It must orbit a star.

• It must be large enough to force itself in a spherical shape.
• It should not have similar size object in its orbit around Sun.

Pluto fails to meet the third criteria so it is now considered as a dwarf planet. There are other dwarf
planets like ceres, Vesta, Haumea, Makemake.

Kepler’s law of Planetary Motion

1. Planets are revolving around Sun in Elliptical Path where Sun is at one of the foci. Aphelion
means maximum distance from the Foci and Perihelion means minimum distance.
2. The speed of planet around sun varies. It is maximum at Perihelion to escape the gravitational
pull of Sun. And it is minimum at Aphelion.
3. T2 proportional to R3. Here T is time period and R is average distance between Sun and planet.
Mercury, Venus’s revolution time is less than 365 days. And of mars and other gaseous planets
would be greater than 365 days.

Some uniqueness of Planets.

• Mercury –
o it is the Swiftest planet.
o It has very thin atmosphere.
o It is also known as cannon ball (85% of its volume is metal).
o It has no moons and no rings.
o It is not the hottest planet as it has very thin layer of atmosphere.
o Mercury is revolving around Sun in anti-clock wise direction which is also referred as
Prograde or West to East. It is also spinning on its axis in Prograde direction.
• Venus –
o It is named after Greek goddess of Love and beauty.
o It rotates on its axis in clock wise direction or retrograde spin. Sun will rise in west. Same
is the case with Uranus.
o It has very thick layers of carbon dioxide and vapours of sulphuric acid which are very
strong green house gases. So, it is able to hold on to the heat received from Sun. The day
time temperature reaches to 480 degrees Celsius and night time it reaches to -170
degree.
 o Also, the pressure on surface of Venus is 90 atmospheric pressure or 90 times that of
earth. Because of high pressure and temperature even lead would melt. So, sending
some equipment on the surface of Venus is near to impossible.
o It has no moons; it has no rings.
• Mars –
o It is called red planet because iron has got oxidised. Fe2O3 (Haematite)
o It also has thin atmosphere composed of H, N, He etc.
o Mars is referred as most explored planet as maximum number of missions to any planet
has been sent to mars.
o It has two moons. Phobos and Deimos.
o Rotation and revolution is prograde.
o Mars does not have rings (Note – All inner planets don’t have rings. All outer planets have
rings)
• Jupiter –
o It is the largest planet of the solar system. It has taken the most mass away from Sun. It
has some heavy metals which are not found even on Earth.
o It has fastest Spin on its axis. It has a tilt of three degrees. So it does not have seasons.
o Atmosphere is mainly composed of Hydrogen and Helium. The pressure is very high such
that Hydrogen has liquified. There are Oceans of liquid hydrogen on Jupiter. So, the
environment is not conducive for life to survive.
o Jupiter has strongest magnetic field. So, it has the strongest Auroras.
o Jupiter also has ring. Its ring is made of dust.
o It has more than 75 moons. The 4 largest moons are – Lo, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto.
(Find out largest moon of the solar system)
• Saturn –
o Gaseous planet mostly composed of methane and the pressure is high enough to convert
it into liquid form. There are rivers of Methane on Saturn.
o It has most unique ring system.
o Its ring is mostly made up of Ice.
o It has maximum number of Moons—146.
o Rotation and revolution – prograde.
• Uranus → It has 90-degree tilt. Due to this it looks like it is Rolling around Sun. Retrograde spin.
• Neptune →Whipped by Supersonic Wind.

Asteroids, Meteors and Comets →Small body system.

Asteroids

➢ They are space rocks which are smaller than planets but larger than pebble size.
➢ They do not have atmosphere.
➢ They revolve around Sun.
➢ Most of the asteroids are found in asteroid belt. A belt between mars and Jupiter.
➢ However, some asteroids are also found in orbits of larger planets such as Jupiter and Saturn.
These are called trojan asteroids. Studying asteroids can help us to understand the origin and
evolution of our universe because they haven’t changed since their formation. So they are like
fossils of universe.
Note → in past Dinosaurs were killed 65 million years ago due to asteroid attack. In future there is
possibility that asteroid could destroy large part of earth.

Meteors

➢ Pebble sized space rocks often formed as debris due to collision of asteroids
➢ The atmosphere creates a drag which increases the friction
so meteors burn leaving a tail.

Comets → They are icy left over from the formation of solar system. They are mostly composed of ice
and frozen gases. They also revolve around Sun. When they come near to Sun, due to heat ice and gases
vapourised leading to formation of very long tails. The direction of tail is always away from the Sun.

▪ Heliopause → Boundary of Sun’s magnetic field. Charged particles cannot go beyond

Heliopause.
▪ Oort Cloud → Boundary of Sun’s Gravity.

Karman Line → It is the boundary of Earth’s atmosphere. Beyond this

line space starts. This line is roughly at 100 KM from surface of earth.

Orbit is a curved path around another object. Which a body takes due
to gravity.

Types of Earth Orbits.

• LEO -- Low earth Orbit.

• HEO – High earth Orbit. (Geostationary and Geosynchronous)
• MEO
• Polar Orbit.
• Sun synchronous Orbit.
• Transfer Orbit

Low earth Orbit

o It has an altitude of minimum 160 Km to 1000 Km (As per ESA)

o Object has to move fast so that it does not pull by Earth. Example, International space station
which is around 400 KM altitude circles the earth 16 times a day. Means it circles an earth in
every 90 minutes.
o Objects in LEO can change their planes. It means that the object does not have to follow the
same path every time it circles the earth. Orbit shape can be elliptical.
High Earth Orbit

o Its altitude is 36000 KM. At this height the objects in this orbit makes a revolution around earth
in one day or 24 hours. Or in other words the revolution speed of the object is same as rotation
speed of earth. So, such orbits are called as geosynchronous.
o Geosynchronous are circular in shape as it has to maintain 36000 KM altitude.

Geostationary – it is a special type of

geosynchronous orbit. The geo synchronous orbit
which is in the equatorial plane is the
geostationary orbit. Satellites in this orbit appears
to be fixed in the sky with respect to a point on
Earth. For example, if a satellite appears above
Delhi, it will always appear above Delhi 24*7.

Telecommunication Satellites and Earth Observation satellites are generally placed in Geostationary.
Its shape will also be circular.

Note = If a satellite is placed in geosynchronous then the satellite from Earth appears to move in the Sky
forming an 8 like pattern.

Medium Earth Orbit – Altitude Ranges from 1000 KM to 36000 KM. It is similar to LEO in the sense that
it does not have to follow the same path every time it circles the earth. In MEO generally we put
navigation satellites are placed. Eg. GPS (Constellation) of USA, Galileo.

Polar Orbit – it is a type of Low earth orbit only. But it orbits around Earth from North to South direction
which is different from most satellites which move in west to east direction. Satellites in this orbit also
circles the earth multiple times a day. Eg. PSLV initially designed to launch in Polar orbit.

Sun Synchronous Orbit – it is a type of Polar orbit. The satellites in this orbit are in sync with local time
at a particular point on earth. For example, if a satellite appears above Delhi at 5 PM the next time it will
appear at 5 PM next day. The altitude is around 700-800 KM. SSO is beneficial in carrying out time
studies such as studying weather or storms or cyclone developing over a particular point on Earth.

Transfer Orbit

These are intermediate orbit which are used to send satellites

from low earth orbit to high earth orbit and even beyond. For
example, the Mangal yan Mission used the concept of transfer
orbit to reach mars. In the above figure the apogee of the
intermediate orbit is same as the altitude the high earth orbit.
When the satellite reaches to apogee a thrust is given by switching
on the engine which transfers the satellite to new orbit.
Lagrange Points

These points were given by the French Italian mathematician

Joseph Louis Lagrange. According to him there are 5 lagrange
points.

Considering Sun and Earth as a system L1, L2 and L3 lie on the

line joining Sun and Earth. L1 is in between Sun and Earth at a
distance of 1.5 million KM from Earth. L2 is behind earth. L3 is
behind Sun. L4 and L5 lie on the apex of the equilateral triangle
formed by joining Sun and Earth as base.

General Definition of Lagrange Points – At Lagrange points the gravity of Sun and earth combined in
such a manner that a third object placed at these points appear to be anchored relative to Earth. In
other words, the gravitational forces of the two-body combined in such a manner to provide the
necessary centripetal force to maintain the object anchored to Earth.

L1 →

➢ Point between Sun and Earth.

➢ Satellite placed here are stable that is they require less fuel to be at L1.
➢ This point is free from solar eclipses.
➢ L1 is beyond Van Allen belt. (van Allen – high point is sky which deflects charged particles coming
from Sun)
➢ Solar observatories are located at L1. For example, Aditya L-1, SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric
observatory – Joint project of NASA and ESA). Aditya & SOHO has been sent to Halo orbit of L1.
➢ Halo Orbits are orbits around Lagrange Point. They are special orbits because they appear to
circle the Lagrange point where actually no mass is present. It is like a halo that these points
have.

L2 →

➢ It is a point behind earth at a distance of 1.5 million KM.

➢ Space observatories are generally located at L2 as it gives clear view of deep space and also
lesser fuel will be required to maintain at L2. Example, James Web Telescope has been sent to
Halo orbit of L2, Euclid Mission on Halo orbit of L2.

L3 →

➢ It is a point which is continuously hidden behind Sun. Scientists have not been able to find the
use of L3 as of now. The biggest challenge is to communicate with the Satellite if placed in L3 as
there is no straight line of communication from Earth, Sun comes in between.

L4 and L5 →

➢ They are referred as stable Lagrange point while L1, L2 and L3 are unstable L-points. It means
that objects at L4 and L5 if slightly disturbed will tend to come back. However, objects at L1,L2
and L3 if disturbed will not return.
➢ In Sun Jupiter system the Trojan Asteroids lie at L4 and L5.
 China is the only country to lend on the dark side of the moon. For
this purpose, they have sent a relay satellite in Halo Orbit of L2 of
earth and Moon system. From here the satellite has clear view of
Dark side of moon and also of Earth so communication is possible.

Change-4 is the name of the mission.

Jet Engine

Working Principle → Jet Engines follow Newton’s third law of motion. That is every action has equal and
opposite reaction. The idea is to continuously generate Hot gases in the Engine which are thrusted out
through an exhaust nozzle. These passing out gases produce thrust in opposite direction.

In jet engine fuel is burnt in the presence of Air which contains oxygen. This combustion produces Hot
exhaust gases.

In Jet Engine, the air is compressed by rotatory compression

system which helps to increase the amount of oxygen per unit
volume so the energy density of air increases. This compressed
air and fuel is ignited in the combustion chamber to produce
large amounts of hot gases which are then passed on to exhaust
nozzles. Examples -Commercial aeroplanes, Fighter planes and
cruise missiles.

Ram Jet Engine – It is a variant of Jet Engine which doesn’t have any moving parts. These engines are
generally used in later stages of missiles where the forward speed is high enough. This forward speed
helps to compress the incoming air so there is no need of rotatory compressor. Example- Ram jet
engines are used in second stage of Brahmos.

Scram Jet engine – it is a variant of Ram jet engine. It also doesn’t have moving parts. The forward speed
is supersonic. At this speed the air flow is compressed naturally. They are used in cruise missiles. Such
as Brahmos II.

These engines that is, Jet engines, Ram Jet and Scram jet are called as air breathing engines because
they need oxygen of air to burn the fuels.

Rocket Engine

Rocket engines carry fuel along with oxidiser that is with supports combustion. The fuel can be solid,
liquid or even cryogenic fluid. Works as per Newton’s third law.

Payload fairing – it is the covering of rocket which protects

the payload and also provides aero dynamicity. The
payload is satellite. However, in case of ballistic missile
the payload would be warhead.

These rocket engines can be used in launch vehicles such

as PSLV, GSLV or they can even power ballistic missiles.
Cryogenic Engine → The word cryo has been taken from Greek word Kryo meaning frost. In engineering
and science Cryogenic means processes and effects at very low temperature that is below -150 degree
Celsius. In a cryogenic engine both the fuel and the oxidiser are at cryo state. Generally, the fuel used
is hydrogen and sometimes it could be CNG. Gaseous H2 converts to liquid at -253 degree Celsius and
gaseous O2 converts to liquid at -180 degree Celsius. At cryo state the energy density of the fuel and
oxidiser increases drastically as the volume reduces due to change in state from gas to liquid. When
the fuel and oxidiser burn it produces it produces much more volume of hot exhaust gases which are
then passed out through exhaust nozzle. Thus, producing fundamentally more thrust than conventional
rocket engines. India became the 6th country to develop Cryogenic engine. (USA, Russia, China, Japan,
France,). In India SKYROOT a private space startup has also developed India’s first private cryogenic
engine called as DHAVAN-I. It uses fuel as liquid CNG and Oxidiser liquid oxygen.

Semi-cryogenic Engine – These type of engines uses fuel which is liquid at room temperature
(Kerosine)and oxidiser is at Cryo state. ISRO is trying to develop Semi-cryogenic engine.

India’s launch Vehicles

SLV → It was developed in 1970s. It was born

out of need to have indigenous capacity to send
satellites. The payload capacity was just 40 Kg
in LEO. It used solid engines.

ASLV → Augmented satellite launch vehicle. It

was developed in 1980s with the objective to
increase payload capacity. Its payload capacity
was 150 Kg in LEO. It also used solid engines.

PSLV

PSLV is 3rd generation of India’s launch vehicles. It was first

successfully tested in 1994. PSLV is India’s first launch vehicle to use
liquid engine. It has four stages starting with solid stage. It is also an
expendable launch vehicle. It means the different stages after
completion of combustion fall off in the ocean.

Significance of PSVL

• It has payload capacity of 1700 KG in LEO which is much more

than what ASLV could carry.
• It has emerged as Workhorse of ISRO. It has sent more than 200 foreign satellites and more than
50 Indian satellites. It also has very high success rate.
• It has been used in some of the most important missions such as Chandrayan-1 and
Mangalyaan- 1 mission.

GSLV

It is fourth generation of India’s launch vehicles. It most powerful and first vehicle to use Cryogenic
engine. It has three stages.
 GSLV has also undergone evolution. MK-I, MK-II and MK-III
(Launch Vehicle Mach III). MK-III payload capacity 10,000 KG
in LEO. GSLV is also Expendable that is it is not reusable.

GSLV Flacon Heavy (Spacex)

• Expendable • Reusable
• 3 stages • Two stages
• One engine per stage • Ten small engines per stage
• 10,000 KG in LEO • 64,000 KG in LEO
• Cost per launch – 50 million dollars • 90-150 million dollars (Per KG launch cost
wise falcon heavy is cheaper)
• Success rate nearly 100% • Nearly 100% success rate

RLV-TD – Reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator

RLV-TD is one of the most ambitious projects of ISRO. ISRO has developed a testing platform to analyse
some critical technologies for building reusable launch vehicle. For example, hypersonic flight was
successfully tested by the HEX (Hypersonic Experiment) 2016. Another example, ISRO has successfully
tested Autonomous lending (LEX- Lending Experiment) 2022. And other critical technologies are also
being tested.

SSLV (Small satellite launch vehicle)

SSLV has been developed with the objective to send small satellite in space on demand in cost effective
manner.

• SSLV can be assembled in just 3 days. Conventional launch vehicles take around 70 to 90 days.
• It has three stages.
• All the stages used solid engines.
• Payload capacity is 500 Kg in 500 KM orbit. Or 300 KG in SSO (Sun synchronous orbit)

Significance

o It reduces turnaround time (TAT) to send small satellite.

o The per KG launch cost is also very cost effective.
o It will boost the production of related industries thus generating more Jobs.
o Multiple small satellite can also be sent in SSLV.

Space Missions

Flyby Mission – Here the space craft just fly past the celestial body and takes images of the atmosphere
and surface. Example –Mariner 10 was a flyby mission of NASA to study mercury.
Orbiter Mission – Satellite enters the gravitational influence of celestial body and orbits around it.
Example – Chandrayan 1 and Mangalyaan.

Orbiter+ lender + Rover – Most complex mission as it involves soft lending on the surface of celestial
body. Example – Chandrayan 3 (Vikram Lender, Pragyan Rover) and Perseverance.

Human Mission – Most complex space mission as astronauts has to be sent in space and then we have
to bring them back safely on earth. Example – the first Human Mission Sputnik 1962, Yuri Gagrin
(Russian Astronaut – Sent to low earth orbit and brought back). Rakesh Sharma 1st Indian. Neil
Armstrong Apollo 11 Mission (3 Person)1969. Neil Armstrong was the first to put foot on Moon and
second was Buzz Aldrin. 3rd person Michael Collin was orbiting around moon in orbiter.

Parker Mission → This mission has been named after

Eugene Neuman Parker who first theorised concept of
Solar Wind way back in 1950. This mission has been to fly
very close to Sun. It is claimed that the parker mission
touched Sun’s Corona. (Corona is the least densed part of
Sun) It was launched in 2018 by NASA. Objective is to
study Sun’s Corona and solar flares and Coronal mass
ejections.

Aditya L1 → It is India’s first mission to Sun. Its objective is to study the outer layer of Sun. (Photosphere,
Chromosphere, Corona) and also study CMEs (Coronal Mass ejection) it has also been sent to langrage
Point 1 (halo orbit of L1) which is free from eclipses. Also, it is beyond Van Allen belt so can study
charged particles from Sun better.

SOHO → Solar and Heliospheric observatory. It is a joint mission of NASA and ESA. It was sent in 1995.
Its operation period was till 1998. However, it has survived for decades and its operation has been
extended till 2025. Its objective was to study sun’s outer layer, track solar flares and also to understand
why Corona is hotter than the previous layers.
MUSE –Multi Slit Solar Explorer → It is a future mission of NASA. Whose objective is to understand the
forces driving heating of corona and also to understand the flow of CMEs.

Helio-Swarm → Also a future mission of NASA. In this mission 9 space craft will be sent which will study
the magnetic field of Sun and its fluctuation.

Mariner-10 → It was a flyby mission of NASA sent in 1973.

Messenger → It was an orbiter mission of NASA sent in

2004 reached orbit in 2011. In 2015 it was deliberately
brought down on the surface of Mercury after the end of
its operational period.

Bepi- Colombo → It is joint mission of ESA and JAXA

Space agency. It was sent in 2018. It is a flyby mission as
of now. It will become orbiter type of mission by 2025.

Mariner-2 → Flyby Mission by NASA 1962.

Magellan → Orbiter type of Mission by NASA.

Venera → First mission to attempt to send a probe on the

surface of Venus. However, it also got destroyed after few
hours.

DaVinci → it is a future mission of NASA. It will be an

orbiter type but it will also try to send a probe on surface
of Venus. It will be sent by the end of this decade.

Veritas → It will be sent by 2027. And it will also be an orbiter type.

Envision → Future mission of ESA. It will also be an orbiter type of Mission. Sent by the end of this
decade.

Shukrayaan → Planned mission of ISRO. Supposed to be sent by dec 2024 but its launch has been
postponed (Dec 2031). It will also study the atmosphere of Venus.

Apollo-11 → In 1962, Yuri Gagarin was the first

person to be sent in space. This led to space war
between USA and Russia. The then President of USA,
Jhon F. Kennedy challenged the NASA scientist to
send Human to Moon in a decade’s time. NASA was
able to do so in 1969. The apollo mission started in
1968 and in the 11th trial NASA successfully landed
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin while Michael Collins
remained in Orbiter module. Rocket that was used
Saturn 5.
The Apollo mission continued till 1972. After that no human lending has been done on Moon. The apollo
11 mission had two modules.

1. Command Module (Columbia) → it is orbiter module which has space for three Astronauts. Its
objective was to reach the orbit of moon and bring back astronauts safely on Earth.
2. Lender Module (Eagle) → this module detached from the command module, landed on surface
of Moon, launched back again to connect to command module. This connection is called
docking.

Obstacles to Manned Mission

• In accelerated medium that is inside rocket humans will experience extreme stress due to
increase in gravity.
• Weight becomes a fundamental challenge. Very powerful rockets are needed to send human
missions.
• Creating earth like condition- that is providing Oxygen, Water, Ambient pressure and
temperature, processing waste, food etc. All of these would require installation of equipment
which would increase the weight of payload.
• Radiation level in space is 10 to 12 times higher than on earth. So special suits would be needed.
• Space debris needs to be tracked to avoid collision.
• Soft landing on surface of celestial body. Israel’s Beresheet, Russia’s Luna 25, Chandrayan-2
failed to soft land on Moon.
• Docking – that is connecting objects in space can be a critical challenge.
• Having effective thermal protection system to avoid burn out while entering earth’s atmosphere.
• Having effective flotation system as the module splashes down in ocean.
• A training of Astronauts – India is sending two astronauts to Russia to get trained for Gagan yan
mission.
• Funding and low level of participation of private sector in Indian Space sector+ Political will.

Benefits of Human Mission

Scientific

o India would have developed very powerful rockets.

o It would become gateway to have our own space station in future.
o It would give deeper insight into Astro-biology, planetary chemistry, Astronomy.
o It would help us to understand better the origin and evolution of our universe.

Economic

o It would help to increase the market share of India in Global space economy which at present is
about 2-3% only.
o It would make space tourism cheaper.
o It would boost the production in Ancillary industries (related industries).
o It will generate high skill Jobs. Former ISRO chief mentioned that Gagan yan mission alone will
generate 15000+ jobs.
o It will attract FDI
Socio-Political Benefits

o It will boost the image of India as a global space power.

o It will attract youth in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) specially
women.
o It will help to build scientific temper of People.
o It will lead to increase in skill level of overall working population.

Steps taken by ISRO for Human Mission

1) Successfully tested subsystems to support life.

2) Has tested crew escape system in case of any emergency.
3) Successfully tested abort mission.
4) Already developed thermal protection system.
5) Has developed effective floatation system.

India is planning soon to send Gagan yan mission which will be India’s first manned mission.

➢ Three flights will be sent. The first flight will be a trial flight. In the second flight a human like robot
Vyom-mitra will be sent. She will study the kind of stresses humans will experience in space and
to make changes accordingly. The third flight will be a crewed flight. Three astronauts will be sent
including Indian woman astronaut. GSLV MK III will be used as rocket.
➢ The estimated cost of the project is about Rs. 10000 crore.

Artemis Mission

It will be a series of increasingly complex missions which would involve human lending on Moon and
beyond. Artemis I has already been sent. It was unmanned mission. Artemis II will be Crewed mission
where astronauts will be sent to orbit of moon and then brought back safely to Earth. Artimis III will be
a crewed mission and it will involve Human lending on Moon. Planned to be sent in 2025. There will be
further more missions such as Artemis 4,5,6 etc.

The objective of Artemis mission is to setup gateway in Orbit of Moon and base station on surface of
Moon. This would help to carry deep space missions. The rocket that will be used is called as Space
launch system (SLS) which is the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA (More Powerful than Saturn).
And the command module will be called as ORION.

Chandrayan I → sent in 2008. Orbiter type of Mission. It found water.

Chandrayan II → sent in 2019. Orbiter, Lender and Rover. Vikram Lender crash landed as it lost contact
with command module prior to touch down. It failed to do soft lending. Rover name Pragyan.

Chandrayan III → it is a repeat mission of Chandrayan II. That is, it will have Orbiter, Lender and Rover.
Same names. Chandrayan III has landed on South side of moon. India became the 4 th Country to land
on Moon. (Russia, USA and China). 5th Country will be Japan under Slim mission. China was first to land
on dark side of Moon. Why we can’t see dark side of the Moon. The gravity of Earth has slowed down the
rotation speed of the moon such that rotation speed of moon and revolution speed of moon has
matched because of this one side remains invisible from Earth. Most planets slow down the spins of
their moons.

The only country to lend on the dark side of the moon is china. Change-4 misison. Rover Yutu.
 Perseverance – It is a rover of NASA sent to
Mars. It was launched in July-August of 2020.
When the time was opportune or best to send
mission to Mars. This mission reached Mars
in Feb 2021. It is the most powerful rover built
to collect samples from Mars. It has powerful
drill to store sample. In future missions these
samples could be brought back to earth.

Recently perseverance has collected

samples from Jezero crater formed by a
meteoroid attack. It was once a vast lack and
river delta. It might have traces of life in its soil

➢ Ingenuity → It was a Helicopter sent with Perseverance. It made history in 2021 by becoming the
first helicopter to have a powered controlled flight on any other planet.

Curiosity → It is the largest rover ever sent to Mars. It was sent in 2011 and reached in 2012. It has power
system which is based on Plutonium decay. It uses nuclear energy to power itself. It also has a powerful
drill to collect samples.

Tianwen-I → Sent in 2020 and reached in 2021. China made history by becoming third country (first USA
and second Soviet Union) to lend on Mars. The name of rover is Zhurong.

Mangalyaan I (2014)→ first mission of India to Mars. India was fourth (USA, Russia and ESA) country to
reach orbit of Mars. India became the first country to reach orbit of Mars in first attempt. And also first
Asian country.

Mangalyaan II → With Orbiter+ lander +Rover. Planned in 2019 but got delayed.

Hope → Of UAE. Orbiter type. Reached in 2021.

DART → It was a mission of NASA to evaluate kinetic impact on Asteroid. It is part of broader mission to
develop earth protection system to deflect incoming asteroids in future. Small satellite that is cube-sat
was released prior to impact to take images of the collision.

DART mission along with HERA mission of ESA forms the global AIDA Collaboration. (Asteroid impact
and deflection assessment). HERA mission will be a follow up mission of ESA. It will go back to the same
double asteroid system to study the impact of collision in the DART mission. It is planned to be sent in
2024.

LUCY mission → Mission sent to trojan asteroid of Jupiter. Its objective is to better understand origin
and evolution of solar system in particular and universe in general. It has been named after Lucy which
is 3.2 million years old human ancestor. Discovery of our fossil gave insight into how humans have
evolved.

Osiris-Rex → Mission of NASA, launched in 2016, collected sample from Asteroid Bennu in 2020. And
delivered the sample on earth in sept 2023.

Psyche Mission → Psyche is a NASA mission to study a metal-rich asteroid with the same name,
located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This is NASA’s first mission to study an
asteroid that has more metal than rock or ice. (Psyche is the first in a series of NASA science missions
to be the primary payloads launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.)

Juno→ It is a mission of NASA. Its objective was to study

composition of atmosphere, study of the surface particularly
the presence of some heavy metals also to study magnetic field
of Jupiter.

Europa Clipper → it is a mission of NASA. It will be a flyby

mission. It will study the icy shell, surface geology and sub
surface ocean of Europa the moon. It would also look for
geysers (under water reservoir). It was sent in Oct 2024 and will
reach Jupiter system by 2030. Space-Ex falcon heavy will be
used as the rocket.
JUICE → Jupiter’s Icy moon explorer – it will study Ganymede (largest moon of solar system), Callisto
and Europa. It will study science of life on these icy moons. It will first orbit Callisto (2031), then Europa
and then Ganymede (by 2034). Ganymede is larger than Mercury. It has its magnetic field and has faint
oxygen also.

Voyager 1→ Voyager 1 is a mission by NASA which was meant to study interstellar space. It explored
the Jupiter and Saturn systems and led to the discovery of new moons, active volcanoes and much data
about the outer solar system.

Space based Telescope → In general they are used to view distant object by collecting EM wave and
then studying it. Lenses or Mirrors are used for this purpose.
 LEO – 550 KM

Infrared

Bigger the size of Mirror more EM waves it

can gather.

Other features of JWT

➢ It has unique heat shield system which is of 5 layered. It helps the equipments to operate at
Cryogenic temperature.
➢ The mirror was so big that it had to be folded to be sent in Rocket.
➢ The mirror is gold coated as gold is good reflector of infrared light.

Objectives of JWT

➢ To study distant galaxies, also to study initial galaxies to have better understanding of origin of
universe.
➢ To study star birth region. Also, to study stages after death of a star.
➢ To study planet birth regions, study exoplanets (beyond our solar system).
➢ Also to understand the effect of dark matter and dark energy in our universe.

James webs telescope is considered a successor of Hubble telescope.

Search about TMT. (and make notes of it)

Space Station – it is a large satellite which is habitable so humans can stay there for prolonged periods
to conduct research. Example, there are two operational space stations – International space station,
Tiangong (Heavenly abode).

• ISS (International space station)

➢ Largest object ever sent by humans. So large that is visible by naked Eyes.
➢ One of the brightest objects after sun, moon and Venus.
➢ Joint collaboration of five countries – USA, Russia, Canada, ESA, JAXA.
➢ It has been continuously manned since 2000 more than 200 astronauts have stayed in
ISS.
➢ Its orbit of 400 KM LEO and circles the earth 16 times a day.
➢ It has unique environment of microgravity (Reduced gravity due to more centrifugal force
countering gravity)
 • Significance of ISS
➢ Microgravity
o Experiments on human health can be conducted such as effect of weight on bone
mass, muscle mass, on blood vessels etc.
o Bone related health issue such as backpain, arthritis, gout could be better
understood.
o Error free protein crystals can be synthesised in microgravity. So powerful drugs,
vaccines and medicines.
o In microgravity newer material or composites could be developed bringing
revolution in material development.
➢ Can observe earth on real time bases. It will be beneficial for monitoring disaster (Floods,
forest fire, tsunami, land slide etc).
➢ Help in observing mineral resources and aquatic resources etc.
➢ It could also help in understanding movement of water from glaciers to rivers to oceans
and back again (Hydrological cycle). It would be beneficial in water purification efforts.

India’s plan of Space Station (Bharatiya Antriksh yaan)

• India will build a smaller space station (20 tonnes) than compared to ISS.
• It will be sent in 400 KM LEO.
• It will be an extension of Gaganyaan mission.
• Initially planned for 2030 now postponed to 2035.
• Indian astronauts would be sent for 15-20 days and then brought back.

Navigation System

It helps in detecting location, speed and time of object on particular part of earth. They are based on
multiple satellite revolving around earth. There are 6 navigation system categorised in global navigation
system and regional navigation system.

GPS → it uses a constellation of 31 satellites

to provide positioning services. 24 are
operational and rest are spare ones. These
are in MEO. Each satellite circles the earth
twice a day. To know the location only 3
satellites are needed. Other satellites
improve the accuracy. It provides 2 types of
services – Military (High accuracy) and
Civilian purposes (20-meter accuracy).

NaVIC -IRNSS

Context – In the Kargil war when Pakistani troops took high position in the mountains India requested
for GPS coordinates but USA denied so the need was felt to have its own navigation system.
Features –

1) There are 7 satellites – 3 are in geostationary and 4 are in geosynchronous. All of them are in
HEO. 8th satellite is a spare one which is planned to be sent
2) Coverage – India and 1500 KM beyond its borders.
3) It provides two services – Restricted services (For authorised personnels and law enforcement
agencies) and SPS – Standard position services (For civilian purposes having accuracy better
than GPS)
➔ GLONASS – Russia – having 24 satellites. (MEO)
➔ Galileo – ESA – More than 20 satellites. (MEO)
➔ Beidou –China –Around 30 Satellites (MEO + Geosynchronous+ Geostationary)
➔ Quazi-Zenith – Japan – 4 Satellites.

Special Theory of relativity (1905)

1) Space-Time → According to Einstein time is a relative concept. It depends on where we are

measuring it. If time is ticking of clock it will tick at different pace at different points in space. It
will literally stop near black hole. It will tick faster on Moon than compared to earth. More the
gravity slower/less the time.
2) Nothing can travel faster than speed of light. This is one of the fundamental laws of our universe.
3) Time Dilation → in faster moving objects time will tick slowly.

General Theory of relativity

1) Conception of gravity as per einstein.

o Matter wraps or bends space time—As per him gravity is the curvature of Space time
matrix. Matter feels this curvature and comes closer towards each other. It is
fundamentally different from Newtons concept of Gravity which says that Newton’s law
of gravity – which says that gravity is the force of attraction.
o Light is also affected by Gravity. Light also bends if the space time is bent. Light generally
travels in straight line but in areas around heavy objects light can also bend. This
phenomenon is also known as gravitational lensing.
 o Einstein has also discussed in this theory concepts of Black holes, singularity, event
horizon, worm holes, gravitational waves.
o The universe is constantly expanding. He did not use the term dark energy for the force
which is causing expansion of universe, he rather used the term Cosmological constant
to explain expansion of universe.
2) Black Hole.
o It is a region is space where matter has condensed to very high density such that it has
very high gravity. Even light cannot escape its gravity. The escape velocity to escape
blackholes gravitational influence is more than speed of light. (On Earth the Escape
velocity is 11.2 KM/s). But special theory of relativity says that nothing can travel faster
than speed of light. So, light also fails to escape.

Types of black holes

Stellar black holes – When high mass star dies that is mass of star is greater than 3 times mass of sun
the star would die to form red super giant star then it causes super novae and then it becomes black
hole.

Note – Our sun will die to become a white dwarf.

When H get exhausted fusion will stop. Two layers will be form – Inner layer and Outer layer. Outer layer
will keep on expanding to become red giant star. Because of long wave length. Red giant star would
engulf some of the inner planets like Mercury, Venus and possibly Earth also. The inner layer keeps on
contracting due to gravity. The temperature of He atoms keeps on increasing. Fusion of He would begin.
Three He atoms would fuse to form Carbon when all He has been consumed fusion will stop to form a
ball of carbon. This stage is referred as white dwarf which is still hot. When is cools down it will be called
as Black dwarf. All stars which have size less than 1.4 times mass of sun will die to become white dwarf.
This limit of 1.4 times mass of Sun is called as Chandrashekar Limit.

Chandrashekar Limit – it is a maximum mass of a star which would form stable white dwarf at end of its
life. It implies that stars having mass more than 1.4 times mass of Sun will die to become either a
neutron star or black hole.
In very high mass star, when fusion stops – outer and inner layers would be formed. The outer layer will
expand to form red super giant star. Outer layer causes an explosion which is called as super novae.
After super novae the outer layer then gets lost in space. Inner layer keeps on collapsing.

❖ Case I – mass of star is less than 3 times mass of Sun – the collapsing layers will compress all
the electron on to the Nucleus. The electron will combine with protons to form neutron. This is
known as Neutron star. Which has very high density just less than black hole and also has high
magnetic field.
➔ Pulsars – They are rapidly rotating neutron stars which produce pulses of radio waves.
They also have high magnetic field.
➔ Magnetars – they are also neutron stars which have billion times more magnetic field than
Sun.
❖ Case II – When mass of star is greater than 3 times mass of Sun – After super novae due to
intense gravity matter will keep on collapsing such that the density reaches nearly infinity. This
stage is the black hole stage.

Intermediate Black Hole – Such black holes have mass more than 3 times of Sun up to 1 lakh times
mass of Sun and these are called intermediate black holes. When stellar black holes merged, they
could form intermediate blackholes. Such black holes are present throughout the galaxies.

Supermassive black holes – these are the largest black holes

having mass more than 1 lakh times mass of sun. These are
found at centre of every galaxy. These super massive black
holes could suck all the matter around it including stars and
planets etc. It forms an accretion disc. The matters are getting
compressed due to gravitational suction of the black hole. Due
to this very intense amount of heat and light produced which
can outshine even the brightest of the stars by thousand times.
This phenomenon is known as Quasars. Quasars are a direct proof of existence of super massive black
holes.
Singularity – it is the centre of a black hole where density is infinite and so is gravity. Scientists have
been trying to answer the question that what existed before big bang. Some physicists like Einstein
pointed that there was singularity just before big bang. Big bang is explosion of singularity which has led
to emergence of our universe. It might be possible that the other singularities could have exploded to
create other universes. This phenomenon is known as idea of Multiverse.

Event Horizon (Ultimate Prison)– it is a boundary

around black hole where any event happening
would not be visible to other parts of universe. It
means that if light crosses this boundary, it would
be absorbed by the black hole. Events happening
within this boundary could not be seen
elsewhere. According to prof. Avi Loeb event
horizon is an ultimate prison. Anything can go
inside this boundary but nothing can leave.

Worm hole – The concept of worm hole was given

by Einstein in his GTR. Another Scientist Nathan
Rosen also contributed to this concept. Worm
holes are bridges in the space time matrix which
can create short cuts for space travels. Using
these worm holes time travel would be possible.
However, this concept has not been proven
experimentally.

Gravitational waves – According to Einstein when

super-massive objects collide or merge such as two
neutron stars colliding or two black holes merging
would lead to generation of waves in the space time
fabric. These waves travel outwards and could reach
even on Earth. These waves travel at speed of light.
For the first time gravitational waves were detected
in 2015. Two black holes merged 1.6 billion years ago
and the waves reached earth in 2015. Gravitational
waves have the property that they stretch the space time matrix and also compresses matter in one
direction and elongates it in another direction. This property is utilised for detection of gravitational
waves.

LIGO (Laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory) – How gravitational waves are detected?

They are based on the concept of interference of light.

There are two arms at 90 degrees. Both the arms are having
exactly same length. A laser beam is split into two beams
and sent in these two arms. The lasers get reflected back
from the mirrors to recombine at point O. It forms a
particular pattern as the beam takes exactly same time to
travel in both the arms.
When gravitational waves hit the setup one of the arms gets compressed while the other elongated. So
now the lasers reach at point O at different times forming a different pattern.

Detectors →

1) There are two LIGOs in USA. One is in Washington and second is in Louisiana. Both are ground
based and both have arms of 4 KM length.
2) VIRGO is in Pisa (Italy). Ground based. Arm length 3 KM.
3) GEO 600 – Hanover, Germany. Arm length – 600 meters.
4) KAGRA – Japan (Sifu prefecture). World’s first underground G-wave detector. Arm length 3 KM.

All of the above are operational.

We also are going to have our own G-wave detector. It will be setup in Hingoli district of Maharashtra
with the help of USA – LIGO.

Space based detectors.

1) As of now no space-based detectors have been setup. However, a mission called as LISA-
Pathfinder was sent at L1 by ESA in 2015 and got over in 2017. Its objective was to test whether
space-based G-wave detector could be setup in future. LISA – laser interferometer space
antenna.
2) eLISA – Evolved LISA – it is a future mission in which three space crafts will be sent forming
equilateral triangle pattern with 1 million KM distance between them. Laser would shine
between them to detect gravitational waves. If the distances are disturbed by G-waves it could
be then detected.
 Nuclear Science and Technology

Isotopes – Elements with same atomic

number but different mass number.
Different mass number is due to different
number of neutrons in the nucleus.
Hydrogen, Deuterium, Tritium.

Radio Isotopes – These are unstable. They have large nucleuses for themselves. It means that the
number of Neutrons is much more than the number of Protons. Or N/P ratio is more than 1. Tritium is a
radio isotope of Hydrogen as N/P ratio is greater than 1. C13 and C14 are radioactive. All elements having
atomic number greater than 83 and mass number greater than 209 exists as radioisotope only. Th, U
and Pu all are Radioisotopes.

Radioactivity – it is the process by which an unstable nucleus tries to stabilise itself. It can do so by
either releasing some particles from inside the nucleus or by releasing the energy. Radioactivity was
first studied by Henry Becquerel. There are three types of Radio activity→ Alpha, beta and gamma.

Alpha Decay (α) → Alpha particle is the doubly positively

charged particle. It has two protons and two neutrons. It
is nucleus of Helium. In an α decay radioactive nuclei
release 2 protons and 2 neutrons to get a daughter
nucleus. The daughter nucleus atomic number is 2 units
less while the mass number is 4 units less.

Alpha particles are large particles so they are released

from inside the nucleus at low speed. So, these particles are not very penetrative in nature. Even a sheet
of paper can stop these alpha particles.
 Beta Decay – Electron coming out from inside nucleus.
A neutron splits into proton and electron. This electron
is released while the proton remains inside the nucleus.
In a beta decay, the atomic number increases by 1 while
the mass number remains the same. Beta particles are
much smaller than alpha particles so they are released
from inside the nucleus at high speed. Beta particles are
penetrative in nature, they can easily pass through paper, cloths, skin, plastic. Only metal sheets can
stop them.

Gamma Decay – is not a particulate emission like alpha and beta. Rather it is release of high frequency
energy by unstable nucleus. So, there is no change in atomic number and mass number. Gamma
radiations are highly harmful specifically to living organism as they can cause mutations in Genes. It
can even pass through metal sheets; thick blocks of lead are used to stop Gamma rays.

Fission – It is splitting of large nucleus into smaller nucleuses along with

the release of excess neutrons. This reaction produces very high amount
of energy as during fusion there is loss of mass which is converted into
energy. The excess neutrons, they hit other fissile nucleus to sustain the
chain reaction. The chain reaction is of two types.

➢ Uncontrolled chain reaction - This is the mechanism used to

make nuclear fission Bomb.
➢ Controlled Chain reaction – here excess neutrons are absorbed
allowing only one neutron to sustain chain reaction per fission. This is the mechanism used to
build nuclear power plant.

Fissile Vs Fertile Material

Fissile Fertile

➢ Radioactive materials which break or split ➢ Does not split when hit by neutron rather
when hit by a neutron. absorbs it.
➢ They can sustain fission reaction. ➢ They do not do fission.
➢ Fuel for Bomb and Nuclear reactor. ➢ They are not fuel.

* Those which are available in nature naturally.

However, fertile materials can be converted into fissile material.

The process of conversion of fertile into fissile is broadly termed as transmutation. Transmutation is a
process by which atom of one element is converted into atom of another element by nuclear reactions.

Components of Nuclear fission reactor

Components of Nuclear Reactors

Fuel Rods – They are generally made from mined Uranium which contain two isotopes. U 235 and U238.
Rods are made from this Uranium and bundled together.

The mined Uranium contains on 0.7% U (235) and 99.3% U (238). The percentage of fissile U (235) has
to be increased to about 3-5% in the fuel rod. The process involved to increase the % is called as
enrichment.

The most popular technique for enrichment is centrifugation → the centrifugal force causes the heavier
U (238) to move towards the edges of the spinning cylinder while the lighter U (235) remain closer to the
centre. To get the desired enrichment level the slightly enriched Uranium would be passed into next
stage involving other spinning cylinders. In normal reactor enrichment level needed is 3-5%. In breeder
reactor enrichment level needed is 20%. In PHWR type enrichment is not necessarily needed. To build
a nuclear bomb enrichment level required is more than 90%.

Control Rods – It controls the rate of reaction by absorbing neutrons. It should be made of neutron
absorbing material and not neutron slowing material. Cadmium, Hafnium, Boron – can be used as
Control rods. These control rods can be lowered or raised in the core. When it is completely lowered it
can even stop the reaction. To increase the rate of the reaction it is lifted up.

Note → Graphite is a neutron slowing material.

Moderator – Role of moderator is to slow down the fast released neutron from the nucleus such that it
increases the probability of further fission. It basically increases the efficiency of fission reaction.
Moderators can be normal water H2O, heavy water D2O and Graphite.

Coolant – the objective of coolant is double folded. There are two coolant circuit.

➢ Primary Circuit – It carries the heat from the core to steam generator and it helps to convert water
into steam.
➢ Secondary cooling circuit – Helps to remove any excess or residual heat from the core.
These circuit circulate with the help of Motors which run on electricity. Coolants can be graphite,
normal water, heavy water, Carbon dioxide and liquid sodium.

Pressuriser – Its role is to increase the heat carrying capacity of the coolant. On increasing pressure the
boiling point increases so now it can carry more heat than when coolant is at normal pressure.

Steam generator – It is a heat exchanger, the heat from the core is used to convert water from steam.
Higher the temperature of coolant more the steam is produced.

Containment – It is a thick covering made up of steel and concrete. Generally, 2 meters thick. It covers
the core and steam generator. The most critical component in a nuclear reactor. It protects them from
any outside intrusion, also in case of leakages and nuclear disaster. The outside environment and
society could be protected.

Types of reactors

1) Boiling water reactor (BWR) [3 to 5% Enriched U] {For Bomb greater than 90%}
2) Pressurised water reactor (PWR) [3 to 5% Enriched U]
3) Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) [Enrichment Not needed]
4) Advanced gas cooled reactor (AGCR)
5) Breeder reactor or Fast neutron reactor [20% enrichment – still its Low enriched U]

BWR – the coolant and moderator is normal water. Water is about to be boiled at about 250 degrees
Celsius. These were the earliest type of reactor set up in India at Tarapur Bombay with the help of USA.

PWR – the design of PWR emerged to power submarines. These were one of the earliest nuclear
reactors. The coolant and moderator is normal water. But it is pressurised not allowing the water to boil
even at about 325 degrees Celsius.

PHWR – the coolant and moderator is D2O -heavy water. These reactors require less level of enrichment
of the fuel. Mined uranium could be used in the fuel rod. India was being helped by Canada to setup
these reactors in 1960s. However, after Pokhran-I Canada withdrew its support. India developed these
reactors indigenously. As of now, most of the reactors in India are PHWR type. There are 22 operational
reactors – 18 of them are PHWR type. Coolant temp – 450 degrees Celsius.

Note – Nuclear power plants are owned and operated by NPCIL. NPCIL is 100% government owned
subsidiary. There are vendors and suppliers who provide critical equipment and materials for nuclear
powerplant such as westing house -USA, Areva – France, Toshiba – Japan etc.

AGCR – They are first developed by a British scientist. So, they are also called as British gas cooled
reactor. Coolant is Co2 and the moderator is Graphite. The coolant temperature reaches to as high as
650 degrees Celsius.

Breeder reactor – Type of reactor which produces more fuel

than it consumes. It does so by converting fertile material into
fissile material.

Breeder reactors are also called as fast neutron reactors.

Because it does not use Moderators.
It produces a lot of heat so a very efficient coolant is required. Generally heavy water and liquid metal
(Liquid sodium used as coolant)

Recently PM visited Kalpakkam nuclear power plant where he

witnessed core loading of PFBR (proto type fast breeder
reactor) which has been built by BHAVINI. However, the reactor
has not achieved criticality – means state of controlled fission
chain reaction.

Nuclear Disasters

1) Three Mile Island – This accident occurred in 1979 USA. There was some defect in the secondary
cooling circuit so temperature of even primary cooling circuit started to increase. The operators
drained the coolant while the fission continued in the core which led to melting down of the fuel
rod assembly, controlled rod and other components of core. This melted liquid made a big hole
in the containment. And the radioactive material leaked out. The impact was that for next two
decades there was slow down in coming up of new nuclear reactors in USA.
2) Chernobyl – This disaster occurred due to defect in design. And also due to untrained
professionals. Operators were testing the critical component of reactor. They observed that the
power output was less so they lifted the controlled rods. But the power output suddenly spiked.
They then lowered the controlled rods but this led to explosion. It was pointed out that the tip of
control rod was made up of graphite which is a moderator which increased the rate of reaction
causing explosion. It also led to steam explosions. The radioactive materials spread to large part
of Europe.
3) Fukushima, 2011 – This disaster took place on March 11, 2011. Japan was hit with earthquake
of 9 Richter Scale followed by Tsunami. Due to Earthquake the plant went into automatic
shutdown so Primary generator also went off. Secondary generator had to fire of but they were
flooded with Tsunami. Fission continued and it led to steam explosions. IMPACT – It led to
negative perception toward nuclear energy. Japan, Germany and France declared that they will
phase out nuclear power plant.

India’s Nuclear Program

After independence Doctor Homi J. Bhabha tried to convince the then PM to start India’s nuclear
program. However, PM Nehru was not in favour of nuclear weapons. He considered them as agents of
Evils. Even PM Shastri Ji was not in favour of nuclear weapons. However, the civilian program started in
early 1960s with setting up of BWR at Tarapur.

Military Program – under guidance of PM Indira Gandhi the first nuclear test was conducted in Pokhran
in 1974 (Smiling Buddha). PM Indira Gandhi was in favour of nuclear weapons. She considered them
necessary as a deterrent force. Nuclear weapons are deterrent forces as they ensure MAD (Mutually
assured destruction) of the parties involved.

The second nuclear test was conducted in 1988 under leadership of PM Vajpayee. This mission was
called as Operation Shakti.
Need for Pokhran II –

➢ There were reports that China was helping Pakistan to build nuclear weapons. So, India would
then be surrounded by hostile nuclear neighbours.
➢ India tested fusion bomb (hydrogen Bomb) along with four fission bombs.
➢ India wanted to put an end to nuclear weapon testing (Self moratorium) to focus now on to
civilian program. For civilian program India would need access to nuclear fuel and technology
which NSG (Nuclear supplier group) controls.

NPT (Non-Proliferation treaty) – Signed in 1968 with the objective to check proliferation of nuclear
weapons. It categorised countries into NWS (Nuclear weapon state) and non-nuclear weapon test.
NWS are those countries who conducted test before 1967. That is P5 countries. All countries other than
P5 are considered as non-nuclear weapon state. India did not join NPT as it pointed out that NPT is
discriminatory treaty as it creates a world of nuclear haves and nuclear have-nots. There are 191
countries. India, Pakistan and Israel are not member. North Korea was a member but it withdrew its
membership.

NSG (Nuclear Supplier Group) – was formed after Pokhran I. There are 48 countries in this grouping.
This group controls the exports of nuclear fuel and technology to non-member countries. There is a
trigger list. Items on this list are prohibited from export to non-member countries. To be a member of
NSG a country has to be a member of NPT. India wants to be a member of NSG but China keeps on
blocking India’s bid. It clubs India with Pakistan. From 1960s and 70s India kept on facing nuclear
discrimination up till Indo-US agreement in 2008.

Nuclear Doctrine

The nuclear doctrine was drafted in 1999. And finally adopted in 2003. Its objectives,

• To portray to the world that India is a responsible country. It was forced to develop nuclear
weapons. These weapons would be use as weapons of defence rather than weapons of offence.
• To address the concerns of smaller neighbours that India would not use Nuclear weapons
against them.
• To show to hostile neighbour that it not only has the nuclear weapons but also the will to use it.
Features of the nuclear doctrine,

• No use policy against non-nuclear countries.

• NFU – No first use policy. With Second strike capability. India would develop the capacity to
strike back if in the surprise first attack most of the nuclear arsenals or nuclear weapons are
destroyed. To have successful second-strike capability India would have nuclear triad. Nuclear
triad means capacity to launch nuclear weapons from air, surface and underwater. For effective
triad India would have capacity to launch nuclear weapons from inside submarines. India has
developed SLBMs (Submarine launch ballistic missiles, Kalam Series – K—15). INS Arihant is
capable to carry this.
• CMD- Credible Minimum Deterrence → it points out that India would have minimum number of
nuclear warheads which it thinks would be necessary for credible deterrence according to SIPRI
(Stockholm International peace research institute), a global defence think tank. India has
around 150 nuclear warheads. Pakistan has around 175.
• Automatic Massive retaliation – If India is attacked by WMD (weapons of mass destruction –
Chemical, Biological, Nuclear)
• Setting up of nuclear command authority which would look after administration and
management of nuclear weapons in India. It would be headed by PM. The authority to launch
nuclear weapons lies with PM.

Indo- US agreement 2008

According to this agreement India has got NSG weaver- India will get access to nuclear fuel and
technology despite not being a member of NSG. However, India would have to use this fuel and
technology only for civilian purposed. India would have to open up its nuclear power plant for IAEA
inspection. (IAEA – International Atomic energy agency, it is a UN watch dog to check nuclear
proliferation of nuclear weapons). These inspections are also sometime called as additional protocols.
India has opened its nuclear power plants for additional protocols but not all. However, the Indo-US
agreement has not taken up due to liability issue. [ Liability means who will be held responsible in case
of a nuclear disaster or who will pay the compensation for the damage. In USA the vendors and
suppliers are immune from any liability according to Price-Anderson act, 1957. The liability will fall on
operator. But in India according to CLiNDA,2010 (Civil liability of nuclear damage act) – the liability lies
on operator but it could be shifted to vendors and suppliers in case of material or equipment defect.
The nuclear venders and suppliers do not appreciate this particular provision as eventually the liability
would fall on them.]

Govt in 2015 has put a maximum cap on liability on the operator and vendor and supplier. Any access
liability would be met from national insurance pool which is a public funded pool.

India’s Civilian Program – 3 Stage

It was conceptualised by Dr. Homi J Bhabha. He was aware of the fact that India doesn’t have sufficient
Uranium (India has only 2% of the global Uranium reserve. But India has around 30% of global Thorium
reserves). To utilise the thorium resources, India would need to develop breeder reactors. So, he
devised 3 stage nuclear program.
First stage – It is based mostly on PHWRs, the input fuel is U (235) and the output is mostly radioactive
waste and in small quantity we get Pu (239). We have successfully completed the first stage. Note – This
plutonium obtained is extracted and enriched to be used as fuel. (We have used it to make Bomb). There
is a linkage between civilian program and military program.

Second Stage – Input fuel initially is U (235). U (238) is converted into Plutonium (239). When we have
sufficient stock of Pu (239) India will begin the second phase of second stage. The input material will be
Pu (239) and Thorium would be converted into U (233).

• India has not been able to rollout or start the second stage.
• A prototype fast breeder reactor has been developed at Kalpakkam whose core has been loaded
with the fuel. And in sometime it would achieve criticality. (Controlled chain reaction state)

Third Stage – it is also a breeder stage which uses the Uranium - Thorium cycle. The input fuel is U (233)
obtained from second stage. It will convert Thorium into U (233). At this stage India would become
completely self-reliant. As it would not need imported U (235). India is developing a proto type reactor
which is called as AHWR (Advanced heavy water reactor). It is being built by BARC in Mumbai. Its
capacity is 300 MW. It uses converted Thorium as a fuel. A prototype has been set up at Kalpakkam
which is known as Kamini which also utilises converted Thorium as a fuel.

Misc Notes

Advantages of Breeder reactor

India’s 3 stages program was heavily dependent upon breeder reactor.

1) Closed Fuel cycle

o The output could be used as input. So better utilisation of resources.
o U (238) and Thorium which are fertile can be converted into fissile material.
o They would extend the fuel supply. Extending the life of Thorium and Uranium reserve.
o The amount of waste produce is much less than conventional reactors.
o The waste produce is less toxic in nature than the waste produced in conventional
reactors.
2) They are more efficient nuclear power plants as they are high temperature reactors producing
more steam thus producing more electricity.
3) Thorium is chemically more stable so handling it is safer than handling U or Pu.
 4) In Thorium based breeder reactor isotope separation is not required as in case of Uranium.
5) These reactors would be more environment friendly as they are not producing carbon dioxide
and also the radio active waste is less harmful than compared to other reactors.

Disadvantages of breeder reactor

1) Technical challenges
o Controlling the rate of reaction. Since the excess neutrons are not absorbed ensuring
them that they are used for conversion of fertile into fissile is difficult.
o Higher level of enrichment of fuel required. Which significantly increases the cost of
production.
o The coolant cannot be normal water. Coolant generally is heavy water and liquid metals
such as sodium. Handling sodium could be very challenging.
o Breeding thorium into U (233) is time taking process.
o Thorium being chemically stable makes the fuel fabrication process more complex as it
has higher fusion temperature than plutonium or uranium.
2) Not much expertise in breeder program.
3) Not many countries are seriously conducting research to develop breeder reactor since they
already have access to lot of U (235).
4) It could also lead to more proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Debate on Nuclear energy.

India as of now produces nearly 1.7% of (429 GW) total electricity from nuclear energy. While most
develop countries like Germany, Japan, France are tapering (means less) the contribution of nuclear
energy in total energy mix then what should be India’s stance or position.

Arguments in favour of nuclear energy

• Energy security – to ensure energy security for present and future generation diversification of
sources of power is imperative. Nuclear power has been untaped till now, we are mostly relying
on coal.
• It can help to fight climate change as it does not produce green house gases such as CO2.
• The most efficient energy source – Fission is million times more efficient than other conventional
sources of energy.
• It would be more sustainable source of energy than conventional sources.
• Compared to renewables (Solar)
o Nuclear energy is available 24*7. Solar is intermittent in nature (Depends on day time,
seasons and location)
o Solar fails to meet peak power demand while nuclear is flexible to address peak power
demand.
o In solar electricity has to be stored that is in batteries and batteries are still in nascent
stage of development. Nuclear on other hand produces electricity on demand. That is
there is no need of storage.
o Land requirement is much more in solar than compared to in nuclear.
o Nuclear is more grid friendly as it produces A.C. where as solar produces D.C which has
to be converted into A.C. to be sent to grid.
Arguments against nuclear energy

• Safety concerns –
o after Fukushima & Chernobyl people have started fearing nuclear power plants. As
nuclear disasters damage the health of not only present generation but also of future
generations.
o Fisherman opposed setting up of nuclear plants in costal areas due to loss of livelihood
in case of leakages in ocean water which could be damaging to aquatic ecosystem.
o Uranium mining would lead to exposure of radio active materials specially of the local
people.
o Operators running the plant are also at risk of exposure to harmful radiations.
o The cost and risk of setting up of nuclear power plant would be borne by poor. They would
lose their livelihood as they get displaced and in case of mishappenings or disasters they
would lose their lives too.
• Limited nuclear resources. So, what would be the utility of nuclear power plants if all the fuel
gets exhausted.
• It would lead to centralisation of power which would increase vulnerability of the grids. If a
nuclear power plant malfunction intentionally or otherwise there could be widescale power
outages.
• Severe competition from renewables such as solar. Which day by day is becoming cheaper and
is always safer. So why the need to go for unsafe source of electricity.

At present India is producing 1.7% of total

electricity from nuclear. (According to
ministry of power). The DAE targets were 20
GW by 2020. This clearly indicates that
nuclear energy is lagging in India.

Global Reasons

o India since very long face nuclear discrimination or nuclear apartheid since India did not sign
NPT and was not made member of NSG. So, India was not able to get access to nuclear fuel and
technology.
o Nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima has led to negative perception towards
nuclear energy. This has led to slow down in coming up of new nuclear powerplants.
o Global nuclear vendors and suppliers such as Westing house and Areva are facing financial
difficulties since Fukushima 2010-11.

Domestic reasons

o India has not been able to roll out the second stage subsequently the third stage of India’s three
stage nuclear program – Breeder reactors are very sophisticated to be develop leading to cost
overrun and time overrun.
 o Liability issue – Due to the liability clause of CLiNDA many nuclear vendors and suppliers are not
willing to come to India. So, India has not much benefited from NSG waiver (Indo-US agreement
2008).
o Protest and controversy – Local people are opposed to setting up of nuclear powerplant as they
consider them as highly hazardous industry. Some environmentalist also vehemently (Strongly)
opposed setting up of nuclear power plant.
o Government’s focus is more towards renewables in general and solar in particular.
o The whole operation from mining to running to waste disposal is technologically challenging and
unsafe.

Nuclear Power plants (Operational) – There are 7 operational nuclear power plants in India having 24
reactors between them.

Monazite is an ore of Thorium and rare earth metals. It is found mainly in beach sand. Beach sand is
more prominently found in eastern coast as it is emerging coast.

Application of nuclear Science and technology in other fields (Other than energy production)

1) Agriculture
o Using Gamma rays to kill pests.
o In developing genetically modified crops. (GM crops)
o Radio active nitrogen N (15) and Phosphorous P (32) are used in trace quantities in NPK
fertilisers to increase the effectiveness of fertilisers.
2) Health
o Iodine (123) is used to detect Thyroid cancer.
o P (32) is used to detect and treat brain tumour.
o Na (24) is used to detect blood clot in blood stream.
o Sodium iodide is used for treating thyroid cancer.
o In prevention – Sterilisation of medical equipments using gamma rays.
3) Industry
o Beta and gamma rays are used for Standardisation of thickness of paper, plastic, cloth
and Metal sheets (Gamma rays for this)
o In food industry to kill harmful germs such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa etc while
packaging the food.
o Rubber industry – natural rubber is soft; it has to be strengthened to be used in different
industrial products. This strengthening is called as Vulcanisation of rubber, which is
 normally done by adding sulphur. However, this processed rubber when gets heated
leads to oxidisation of rubber and forming Sulphuric acid which would lead to Acid rain.
Vulcanisation can be done by Gamma rays without adding sulphur.
4) Archaeology
o Used for dating of fossils or old samples. The most famous method is radio carbon
dating. Half-life – It is the time period in which half of radio active sample stabilises itself.
It implies that not all unstable nuclei will be stabilised in the same time. Some might be
stabilised in first half life and second so on. Different radioactive material has different
half-life. For example, Polonium has half-life of microseconds. Carbon (14) has 5730
years, U (238) – 4.5 billion years.
o Radio carbon dating method was found by Willard Libby. It finds out the age of sample by
finding out the amount of C (14) to C(12) in the sample. Living organism while they were
alive maintain this C(14) to C(12) ratio, any loss of C(14) is replenished through the
respiration process. However when the organism dies C(14) cannot be absorb from the
atmosphere and it starts to decay. (Follows Beta decay and carbon gets converted to
Nitrogen). Since the half life of C14 is known we can get the age of the sample. This
method is accurate and gives absolute dating. Limitations are – it can be used to date
only organic material. Metals cannot be dated using this method. Very old samples
(older than 60,000 years) cannot be dated as the amount of C(14) would be negligible to
be detected.

Difference between Fusion and Fission

Fusion Fission
Process • Combining of smaller atoms • Breaking of large atoms in smaller
to form large atoms. nuclei.
Input • H(1), H(2), H(3) – abundantly • U(233), U(235), Pu(239) –Scare and
available and relatively safer harmful.
Output • Helium – Inert gas so not • Radioactive waste – harmful to
harmful human health.
Sustainability • More sustainable source of • Less sustainable as both input and
power. output harmful.
Efficiency • 3-4 times more efficient • Million times more efficient than
than fission. Coal.
Destruction • Fusion bombs are deadlier • Fission bombs are deadlier than
potential than fission bombs conventional bombs.

Proliferation • Technology is hard to spread • Relatively easy to spread.

as it is very sophisticated.
Reactor
• Many fission reactors are
• No fusion reactor is operational
producing power at
commercial scale.
Fusion reactor – Tokamak = It is a Russian word for doughnut or tubular in shape or torus. The design
was proposed by Russian scientist Andrei Sakharov. This design is also known as Magnetic confinement
design as super magnets are used to control the flow of Plasma. Fusion occurs in the plasma which
produces heat, the heat is absorbed by the walls of the reactor and this heat is used to convert water
into steam which rotates turbines and generator to produce electricity.

Limitations or concerns

o Creating plasma is a challenge as it is a very energy intensive process. New materials would be
needed to withstand these extreme conditions. (in ITER the plasma would be deuterium and
tritium based. Tritium is radio active and its production and extraction is difficult)
o Plasma has very low density so it is very harmful and difficult to be control.
o The output energy produce (net gain) is very less. The input energy is much more than the output
energy.
o Sustaining the fusion for long periods of time is very difficult. For example, the UK Jet reactor was
able to sustain fusion for few seconds. China’s east reactor (Artificial Sun) was able to continue
fusion for few minutes.
o Scientists from 1960s are trying to tweak the design the of the reactor to initiate fusion at much
lower input energy or temperature.

ITER Project (International Thermonuclear experimental reactor)

It will be world’s largest fusion reactor. It is being built in southern France. It is a global collaborative
project. 35 nations are members of the ITER project. Some major countries are USA, Russia, China, EU,
South Korea, India etc.

Cold Fusion – Fusion which occurs at room temperature. It is a theoretical model not being proven
experimentally. In cold fusion the positive charges of the proton are neutralised by some negatively
charged leptons (Muons), now the fusion can occur at much lower temperature.
Standard Model of an Atom

o Dalton said that Atom is indestructible. That is, it is smallest unit.

o J. J. Thomson conducted cathode ray experiment and found electrons. He proposed plum
pudding model of an atom.
o Rutherford conducted gold foil experiment and found that atom is mostly empty but has dense
centre which is positively charged. Nuclear model of an atom was proposed different from plum
pudding model. There is a nucleus and electrons are revolving around the nucleus. Neil Bohr
said electrons revolve around nucleus in fixed orbit (1913).
o Chadwick found neutrons present inside nucleus which helped to give information about
isotopes.
o From 1940s onwards scientist started finding many fundamental subatomic particles. They were
called as matter particles and force carrier particles. Scientist also started asking what forces
govern these particles.
o Higgs boson gives mass to matter. It tried to answer the question that why particles have mass.
And it was experimentally found in 2012.

Standard model of an atom is one of the best theories to explain the structure of an atom and the forces
governing the subatomic particles. It is able to give explanation for three of the four fundamental forces.
(it does not explain gravity)
The three fundamental forces as explained by standard model. (Gravity is weakest of all four)

a) Strong nuclear force → created by gluons. This force is created by gluons. It is strongest among
all fundamental forces. It is this force which holds the protons and neutrons inside the nucleus.
It is much stronger than electromagnetic repulsive forces between the proton. It is an attractive
force, short range force.
b) Electromagnetic force → this force is created by photons. It is responsible for repulsion between
same charge particles and attraction between different/opposite charge particle. It is second
most strongest force after strong nuclear force. It can be attractive and repulsive and long-range
force.
c) Weak force → it is created by W and Z bosons. This is responsible to cause radioactive decay of
nucleus. For example, during beta decay – it helps to change the flavour of quarks that is neutron
converts into proton and electron. It is also responsible to cause fusion of nucleuses. Fusion of
H into He.

Higgs Boson -- These are particles which creates Higgs field. Interaction with Higgs field gives mass to
matter.

Limitations of standard model

o It fails to explain gravity.

o It gives description of only real matter which is only 5%. It fails to give explanation of 95%
universe which we call dark universe.
o Neutrinos have very feeble mass. Standard model is not able to explain or able to find out mass
of neutrinos.

Higgs Boson

They are called as God particles. They are force career particles. These particles are much heavier than
protons. These particles create a field – an invisible field present throughout the universe. Particles
interact with the field. More they interact with the field, the heavier they are.

This theory was proposed by Peter Higgs and Francois Englert in 1964. However, the Higgs Bosons
particles were experimentally detected in 2012 at CERN laboratory, Switzerland. The 2013 noble prize
for Physics was given to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert.

This analogy is used to understand the mechanism of Higgs

Boson and how it gives mass to matter. The ice particles can
be considered as Higgs boson particles. These Ice particles
create ice field which can be considered as Higgs field. A
person walking on the ice field is interacting more with the ice
field compared to a person who is sliding on a ski board.
Throughout the universe these Higgs particles are present
which are creating the Higgs field. An electron interacts less
with the Higgs field than compared to a proton so an electron has less mass than compared to a proton.
A photon which is also the career of light does not interact with the Higgs field. So, it doesn’t have mass.
It is also the fastest particle. Why nothing can travel faster than speed of light? Every particle or energy
other than photon would interact with the Higgs field so they would be slower than Photon which is the
career of light.
Neutrinos – It is a lepton which has no charge (neutral) and has very feeble mass. It is second most
abundant particle after photon. It was predicted by Wolf Gand Pauli in 1930s. But experimentally found
first in 1950s. They are produced in nuclear reactions. Every second billions and trillions of neutrinos
are produced even in simple fission reaction. It is also produced in the sun. Even a Banana produces
neutrinos. The radio-active potassium in Banana leads to creation of neutrinos. These neutrinos stream
or pass through our body every second. But we cannot feel them. It is because neutrinos hardly interact
with matter. So, they are also called as Ghost particles.

There are some neutrino observatories

1) INO – India’s neutrino observatory. Previously it was located in Kollar Gold field. It was an
underground facility located 2000 meter below ground. Since KGF is now closed, it is now being
shifted to Bodi west hills, Theni district, Tamilnadu. It is underground facility depth of 1200
meters below the ground. It is based on the principle of iron calorimeter method of detection of
neutrinos.
2) ICECUBE – worlds largest neutrino observatory. Placed deep under ice in Antarctica in south
pole. It has telescope to detect dark matter.
3) Planned Largest neutrino observatory – The tropical deep sea neutrino telescope (TRIDENT) –
call Hai- ling or Ocean bell will be anchored in Western Pacific Ocean in 2030 by China.
4) Largest underground facility – Jiangmen underground neutrino observatory (JUNO) in China’s
southern Guangdong district.
5) Largest underwater facility—Baikal -GVD (Gigaton Volume detector) by Russia in Lake Baikal,
world’s deepest lake situated in Siberia.
 Intellectual Property Rights

According to WTO IPRs are rights given to person over the creation of their mind. It usually grants
exclusive rights to the creator over his/her creation for certain period of time. Compared to conventional
properties these properties are intangible and rights are given for sometime only.

Need for IPRs

• According to Jhon Lock a person’s labour belongs to him/her. When a person mixes labour with
something he makes it his/her property.
• Progress and wellbeing of humanity depend on the capacity to create new things. For example,
invention of wheel, steam engine, assembly line, computers, internet, AI etc.
• It would lead to economic growth and development of country. USA, South Korea, Japan, Israel,
Germany have developed because they are technology led country.
• It would provide social recognition to the creator – providing motivation for further invention.
• It would create an ecosystem which would foster innovation.
• It could help to solve many crisis which humanity suffers. For example, Casgevy is a gene
therapy to treat Sickle cell anaemia and Thalassemia. MRNA based vaccines were one of the
first to prevent Covid. One of the tools to fight climate change would be innovation.

Copyrights – These protects artistic and literary works

such as,

a) Books and other writings (Newspaper)

b) Paintings and sculptures.
c) Films
d) Musical compositions
e) Computer programs.

There are other neighbouring rights also, protected by copyrights. Such as,

a) Rights of performers (Actors, singers and Musicians)

b) Producers of Phonograms or sound clipping.
c) Broadcasting organisation.

The right of protection in case of copy right is during the life time of the creator/author and minimum of
50 years after his or her death.

Industrial Rights

a) Patents – it provides protection to industrial innovation. Patents are granted for something new
and often denied for discoveries. Discovery is finding out the property or use of something which
already existed in nature. Invention implies creation of something new which did not exist before.
Patens are granted generally for 20 years after that it expires and can’t be renewed. Patents are
of two types.
➢ Process Patent – It protects particular process of production. The end product could be
made by others by following a different process. Here high chances of reverse
engineering. Less comprehensive. India started its IPR laws with processed patent. India
became a hub for generic drug manufacturing because of this.
 ➢ Product patent – The end product is itself protected. No one other than patent holder can
make the product. No chance of reverse engineering. More comprehensive protection.
Introduced in 2005 in India.
b) Trademark – It essentially protects the brand name. These are marks which distinguishes the
goods and services of one organisation with another organisation. It can be done so by using
words, logo, Symbols and even unconventional symbols (Apple) etc. 10 years & renewed.
c) Industrial design – It protects the 3-D features of products such as Shape. Also protects the 2-D
appearance of the product such as pattern, lines, colour. It only protects the aesthetic features
of the product but does not protect the underlying working. For 10 years can be renewed.
d) GI (Geographical Indication) – GI provides protection only to goods produced in a specific region.
It has some definite qualities attributable to that specific region. It is provided not to individual
but to a local region practicing the particular profession. For example, Darjeeling Tea, Kashmiri
Saffron, Banarasi Saari etc. GI given for 10 years. It can be renewed.

Plant Variety – It is an IPR in agriculture. It protects farmers and breeder to develop new varieties of
plants such as crops, vines and trees.

Patent regime of India – Every country frames rules, laws and policies to protect IPRs.

➢ Copyright act 1957 – It was independent India’s first copyright act. And amended several times.
Features:
o Types of work that are protected – Artistic, literary, dramatic and musical.
o Time period of protection – Life time of author creator and 60 years beyond his or her
death.
Exemption to copyright: section 52 (1)(a) of copyright act 1957. Exemption is allowed for fair
usage purpose. Delhi University Photo copier case, Oxford and other publishing houses had filed
a case in court asking for compensation from DU photo copier. As they were, photo copying their
copy righted material. However, court ruled in favour of photo copier citing the reason that these
photo copies are being used for educational purpose which falls under fair usage norm provided
in section 52 (1)(a) of copyright act 1957.
 ➢ Indian patent act 1970 – It is the principal patent act of India. It clearly defines what is an
invention. Only inventions can be granted patents. There are three pre-requisites for
patentability.
o Novelty standards.
o Non-Obviousness
o Industrial applicability
The original act of 1970 provided only for process patent and the time period for protection was
5-7 years only.
2005 Amendment to Indian Patent Act 1970.

Question – Bringing out the circumstances in 2005, which forced amendment to section 3(d) in the
Indian patent law 1970. Discuss how it has been utilised by SC in its judgement in rejecting Novartis
patent application for Glivec. Discuss briefly the pros and cons of this decision.

Context of 2005 amendment →India has always been a member of WTO. During the 1995 TRIPS
agreement, developing countries were given 10 years of time to upgrade their domestic IPR laws up to
TRIPS standards. So, in 2005, India amended the IP law of 1970. Amendments are as follows,

A. India introduced product patent.

B. Increased the time period of protection from 5-7 years to 20 years.
C. Special tribunal was setup called as IPAB (Intellectual property rights appellate board) – but now
it is abolished.
D. Section 3(d) of the Indian patent act 1970 was amended to check evergreening of patents. It
means attempt by companies to increase or extend the time period of protection by making
some minor modification without actually increasing the efficacy of the product.
o New forms of a known substance cannot be patented unless the new form is significantly
better/higher efficacy than the old form.
Novartis case – it is a Swiss pharma company. It had developed an anti-cancer drug
called as Imatinib. Its patent was about to expire, Novartis made minor changes (Beta
form) and claimed that it had more bioavailability and filed for fresh patent under brand
name of Glivec (2600$). The generic version costed 200$. However, the Indian patent
office denied patent to Glivec citing section 3(d) of Indian patent act 1970. Novartis went
to SC and challenged the constitutionality of section 3(d) itself. SC upheld the legality of
section 3(d) and also upheld the decision of Indian patent office. It pointed out that Glivec
doesn’t show significant improvement in efficacy over Imatinib. Increased bioavailability
doesn’t meet the criteria.
Search about Bedaquilline case of Jhonson and Jhonson. Drug for TB.
o New usage of a known substance cannot be Patented. Aspirin which is pain killer
(Analgesic) is now used as blood thinner/anti-coagulant agent. So, for its blood thinning
property or usage it cannot get patent.
E. Provision of compulsory License – section 84 of Indian Patent act 1970. License can be granted
by a patent holder to a third party for manufacturing the patented product or to use the patented
process. If the license is given by consent, it is referred as voluntary licensing. For example, Astra
Zeneca + Oxford – gave voluntary license for Covishield to Serum Institute of India. If the patent
holder doesn’t give license voluntarily govt can authorise a third party to produce patented
product or process without the patent owners consent.
However, govt can invoke compulsory licensing only in certain circumstances. Such as,
 o if a drug is very costly.
o if the drug is not available in the Indian market for Indian patient.
o in case of public health emergency such as Pandemics.

Bayers Case (2012) – Bayers is a German Pharma company. Which had monopoly over an anti-cancer
drug. It was very steeply priced in India. Government invoked compulsory licensing and granted it to
NATCO an Indian generic drug manufacturer and the cost came down significantly.

Note – even in case of Compulsory licensing the third party will have to pay the royalty to the patent
owner. However, this amount could be negotiated between two parties with the help of government.

➢ Geographical Indication (Geographical indication of goods, registration and protection) Act,

1999 – it provides protection primarily to agricultural, natural or manufactured products
(handicrafts and industrial goods). The validity period is 10 years and it can be renewed. It is
provided to a specific geographical region. It prohibits unauthorised use of registered GIs. It
helps the producers to secure premium pricing for their goods and protects good will and
reputation associated with the product. For example- Darjeeling tea, Banarasi Saari.
➢ Trademark act 1999 – It gives definition. It is a mark capable of being represented graphically and
capable of distinguishing goods and services of one person from another person. It can be
words, logo, Symbols and can be non-conventional symbols. Protection for 10 years and
renewed. India is signatory to Madrid Protocol → this protocol attempts to simplify the
registration and management of Trade marks globally. TM owners can file a single international
application in multiple countries.
➢ Design Act of 2000 – The design act protects industrial products, 3-D features and 2-D features.
The features imply shape, configuration, pattern, composition of lines or colours applied to any
article whether in 2-D or 3-D. The design must be new and original. However, it doesn’t provide
protection to underlying working.
➢ PPVFRA (Protection of plant variety and farmers rights act), 2001 – it is IPR in agriculture. It
provides protection to farmers and breeders to encourage development of new varieties of
plants. Time period of protection – 15 years for field crops and 18 years for trees and wines. The
act has strong provisions to protect farmers rights. The act allows farmers to plant, grow,
exchange & sale protected crops including seeds. It only bars them from selling branded seeds.
PepsiCo case- Pepsi has developed two varieties of Potato to be used to make chips. PepsiCo
entered contract farming with Gujarat farmers. Later PepsiCo filed a case in court pointing out
that Gujarat farmers violated the plant protection. However, court ruled in favour of farmers
pointing out PPVFRA provision. That allows the farmers to share the seeds and even sale it in the
market but not as branded seeds.
➢ National IPR Policy of 2016 – It has been designed to lay down the future road map for intellectual
property in India. It aims to incorporate and adopt global best practices in Indian scenario. There
are several objectives,
o Stimulate generation of IPR.
o Commercialisation of IPR.
o Setting up legal framework.
o Administration and management of IPR.
o Proper enforcement and adjudication.
o Focus on human capital development in field of IPR.
o Creating awareness about IPR.
Global Conventions related to Intellectual Property

1) Vienna -1484 → in this convention there were discussion about artisans and their rights over
their products. It talked that artisans should have monopolistic rights over their products.
2) Paris -1883 → this convention is about industries having rights over their products. That is
protection of industrial property and having exclusive rights over its usage.

Note = Vienna and Paris convention forms the basis of patent regime.

3) Berne – 1886 → this discussed about artistic and literary works. The authors and creators
should have exclusive rights over their creation. It forms the basis of modern copyright regime.
4) WIPO- 1967 → World intellectual property right organisation. It is a specialised UN agency. Its
objective is to protect IP throughout the world. It comes out with a famous report. Global
innovation index. India’s rank 40 in 2023. Its rank was 81 in 2015. Switzerland is at Top. Find out
4 reasons for improvement of India.
5) TRIPS (trade related IP regime), 1995 – to ensure minimum level of protection that each member
country has to give to fellow WTO member. Its level of protection is more than Vienna, Paris and
Berne convention. Developing countries were given 10 years of time to make domestic laws
compliant to TRIPS by 2005.

Question – How is GoI protecting traditional knowledge of medicines from patenting by Pharma
companies.

Question – Scientific research in Indian universities is declining. Because career in science is not as
attractive as business operations, engineering or administration. And the universities are becoming
consumer oriented. Critically comment.
 Defence Technology

SIPRI report,2023 – Stockholm international peace research institute is a global think tank on defence
studies. According to 2023 report first India is fourth largest military spender in the world. It spends
around 2.6% of its GDP on military. USA spends 3.4% of its GDP (USA is largest spender). China and
Russia occupy second and third position.

India is the largest arms importer in the world from 1993-2022. Soudi-Arebia is the second. India
accounts for about 17% of global arms import. Russia’s contribution in India’s Arms import is
decreasing. In 1999 it was 62% and now it has come down to 37% in 2022. India is trying to diversify its
sources of arms import such as France, USA and Israel.

India’s share in global arms export is minuscule – 0.2% of total arms export. USA is largest arms exporter
and its share is 40%. China around 5%, Israel 2.6%.

The share of USA has increased from 36% to 40% in the period 2018-2022. In the same period Russia’s
share is decreased from 22% to 16%.

MECRs (Multilateral Export control regime)

These are voluntary groupings outside UN. MECRs were formed with the objective to control exports of
weapons of mass destruction. Later on, it also attempted control of conventional weapons. There are
four such MECRs. India is member of 3 except NSG.

NSG – Nuclear Supplier group (48 members) –

• It was formed after Pokhran I after 1974.

• This grouping controls the exports of nuclear fuel and technology.
• There is a trigger list. Items on this list are prohibited from exports to non-member countries.
• India is not a member. China keeps blocking India’s bid. It clubs India with Pakistan.
• To be a member of NSG a country has to be a member of NPT.

Australia Group (43 members)

• During Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) there was a realistic fear that these countries would use
biological and chemical weapons. So, this grouping was formed in 1985 to check exports of
chemicals and other biological agents which could be used by a country to develop biological
and chemical weapons.
• There are 54 such compounds which are prohibited to export to non-member countries.
• There are 43 countries in this group and India has become 43rd member in 2018.

MTCR (Missile technology control regime)

During 1980s there was an arms race between USA and Russia to develop missile which have inter-
continental range. It was felt that other countries would also acquire such missile technology. So, this
grouping was formed initially of Developed countries in 1987, as of now there are 35 member countries.
India became the 35th member in 2016. It restricted the export of any technology which could increase
the range of any missile or UAV to more than 300 KM (reach would be regional) range and payload
capacity more than 500 KG (will not be able to carry nuclear war head). There was delay in development
of cryogenic engine in India because India was not member of MTCR

Wassenaar Agreement

After the end of Cold war many smaller countries were formed. It led to increase in conflicts between
these countries. Demand for conventional weapon soared or increased. So, this grouping was formed
such that the member countries would have to share information regarding arms exports to non-
member countries. There are 42 members, India became the 42nd member. It became member in 2017.

Benefits of Being member of MECRs

1) India could import latest weapons.

2) It would help in technology transfer which could boost domestic industries.
3) India could increase its share in global arms exports.
4) India would be sitting in high tables or in global rule making institutions.
5) It will strengthen the bid of India to permanent membership of UNSC.
Missiles – Missiles are unmanned remotely piloted vehicle which carry war heads with the objective to
destroy a target.

Background of missiles – Nazi Germany had developed flying bombs V1 and V2 during the second world
war, however these were intercepted by USA. USA soon realised the value of such delivery systems.
Also, during Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing there was a need felt that nuclear bombs should be
delivered not by bomber planes but by some other mechanism. During 1960s and 70s lots of missiles
were developed. The game changer was development of ICBMs. Which have ranged more than 5500
Km. In present time with development of Hypersonic glide vehicles by China, Russia etc has led to
another missile race between countries.

Missiles are broadly classified into cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

Cruise Missile Ballistic Missile

• The path of such missile always remains • It follows a parabolic trajectory. Missile
inside earth’s atmosphere. Generally, they leaves earth’s atmosphere, reaches space
fly very close to surface to avoid detection and then it falls on target due to gravity.
by Radar. • They are powered by rocket engine since
• They are powered by air breathing engines the missile will not have access to air in
such as Jet, Ramjet, Scramjet. space.
• They are powered throughout the flight. • Powered in the initial phase of the flight
• The range is generally less than 600 KM. until it reaches the specific height.
• Range is 300 KM to 12000 KM
• Higher accuracy and limited payload • Comparatively lower accuracy.
capacity. • Very high payload capacity
• Number of warheads – 1 war head • Multiple warheads (MIRV – Multiple
independently targetable re-entry vehicle)
• Examples – Brahmos, Nirbhay, Tom Hawk • Examples- Agni, Prithvi
(USA)
Brahmos

• Cruise missile jointly developed by Russia and India.

• The project started in 1990s and in the initial phase the Brahmos developed had range of 290 Km
and payload capacity of 200-300 kg.
• The limited range and capacity is due to MTCR. Russia was a member of MTCR while India was
not. So, Russia wasn’t able to help to increase the range and payload capacity. However, its
speed was very high in the range of 2.2 to 3 mach.
• It is considered to be fastest cruise missile in the world. It generally flies below 15 KM height. It
could fly at the height of 10 meters when it is near the target.
• It has two stages – the first stage uses solid fuel; second stage uses a scramjet engine.
• Newer generation of Brahmos is also being developed.
• Brahmos II is designed to destroy deep enemy bunkers. (Range 450 KM)
• Brahmos III is designed to destroy enemy aircraft carriers. (Range 650 KM)
• Brahmos II and III are Hypersonic and will be having speed of greater than 5 Mach. Both the
missiles are in developmental stage. Here range is increased because now India is a member of
MTCR.
• Brahmos can be launched from multiple platforms. (Air, surface and underwater)

Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme

• It is an indigenous program to develop missile. It was started under guidance of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam. Who is also famously called as missile man of India. The program started in early 1980s.
Initially India was seeking to get help from other countries. But due to MTCR signed in 1987, India
had to develop missiles own its own. So, DRDO collaborated with other research organisation,
industries to develop missile systems and subsystems.
• Five missiles have been developed under IGMDP.
Agni –Surface to surface intermediate to long range ballistic missile

Prithvi I – range- 150 KM, payload – 1000 KG

Prithvi II—range 350 KM, Payload – 1000 KG

Prithvi III range 650 KM, payload – 1000 KG.

Prithvi II and III are nuclear capable also. It means it can

carry nuclear warhead. Army has replaced Prithvi I with
which missile?

For SAMs India relies mostly on Barak-8. It is a joint venture between India and Israel. Barak are of two
types. MRSAM and LRSAM. Medium and Long.
 HGV- Hypersonic Glide vehicles → they incorporate the
design of both an aircraft and a missile. Recently China,
Russia have successfully tested HGVs. China’s HGV is called
DF17 and Russia’s HGV is Avangard. Their initial path is very
similar to that of ballistic missiles but it enters the earth’s
atmosphere at shallow angle because of which it tends to
skip out of the atmosphere and then makes another entry.

This is also known as fractional orbital bombardment system.

Skip Re-entry—It is a concept or technique mostly used by space craft in which the space craft does
not make one steep entry into earth’s atmosphere rather makes shallow entry at multiple points. This
helps to distribute the decelerating forces at multiple points. Thus, reducing the amount of drag/friction
ensuring safer landing on earth. For example, it was used in Change-5 mission. HGVs generally do not
use this mechanism however China testes this mechanism. India is also trying to develop hypersonic
technology including HGV-TD (technology demonstrator).

Missile/Air defence system

RADAR →Radio waves are electromagnetic waves travelling with speed of light. Use for detecting speed
of object on surface and air. Range is much higher – 400 to 600 KM. use for detecting aeroplanes,
helicopter, drones, missiles etc.

SONAR →Sound waves are longitudinal waves travelling with much slower than speed of light. Use for
detecting location and speed of object under water. Range is comparatively low. Use for detecting
submarine, torpedoes etc. Dolphine, Whales and Bats use Sonar.

Missile defence system utilises RADARS and counter interceptor missiles. RADARS can be ground
based, air based and even space based. Interceptor missile can be launched from Land, underwater
and from surface of water.
S400 –it developed by Russia and USA called it a Triumph. Some of the features

➢ Its radar has a range of 600 KM.

➢ Its interceptor missile has a speed of 14 mach. (Hypersonic)
➢ Interceptor missiles are of different types that is having different ranges (40 Km, 80 Km, 120 km,
250 km and 400 Km)
➢ 1 Unit has nearly 80 interceptor missiles. Meaning that the system can intercept more than 80
targets simultaneously.
➢ It can intercept multiple type of arial threats. Cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, Fighter jets,
Helicopters, Drones etc. Iron dome is not designed to intercept cruise and ballistic missile.
THAAD of USA is not able to intercept long range ballistic missile, fighter planes, drones and
helicopters. THAAD is designed for short to intermediate ballistic and cruise missile.
➢ The system is completely autonomous, that is, the computers decide which interceptor missiles
have to be sent for which type of arial threat.
➢ It can be deployed in very rough terrains such as mountains etc.

India is buying 5 units of S400 at a cost of about $ 5 billion. India has received 3 such units. One is placed
in Punjab section of western border, one covering part of Chinese border and one covering China-Pak
border.

Question – Why S400 considered one of the best missile defence systems in the world

Note -Significance of S400 for India.

o It would act as force multiplier for our defence forces.

o Create strong deterrence not only against state actors but also non-state actors such as terrorist
organisation such as ISIS
o Rising new kinds of threats such as Drones
o India buying S400 despite USA threat of imposing CAATSA (Countering American Adversaries
through sanctions Act) reveals that India is having strategic autonomy in IR.

Conclusion – What is India’s indigenous missile development system (Write about PAD (Prithvi Air
defence) and AAD (Advanced air defence))

Assets of Navy

Diesel Submarine Nuclear Submarine

➢ They have limited capacity to remain dived ➢ They have very high capacity to remain
inside water. dive.
➢ Short range. ➢ Very long range
➢ Smaller hull. ➢ Much larger hull.
➢ Speed is slow. ➢ Much faster.
➢ Superior stealth capacity as they have ➢ Inferior stealth capacity due to large cross
small cross section and less heat section and produces large amount of
signature. heat.
➢ Easy to manoeuvre. ➢ Difficult to manoeuvre.
➢ INS Kalvari ➢ INS Arihant.
Submarines are based on Archimedes principle.
 Sindhughosh→ These submarines
were brought from Russia during
1980s. The first ship was INS
Sindhughosh. India got 9 submarines
and 1 got destroyed in Mumbai.

Sisumar Class → India developed

these with the help of Germany. There
are 4 such submarines.

Kalvari class → Latest diesel submarines which are being developed under project 75 with the help of
France. At present 6 such submarines are developed. [Kalvari, Khanderi, Karanj, Vela, Vagir (all 5
commissioned), Vagsheer (Launched)]

What is project 75 → It is Indian navy’s 30 years project from 2000-2030. It will have 2 phases. (2000-
2015 → 12 submarines are to be developed with the help of foreign countries, 2015-2030 → this phase
will be called as Project 75(I) – 12 submarines to be developed indigenously)

Warships Frigates Corvettes

o They are the largest o Medium sized and mid- o Smallest ship which is
surface ships which are level armoured lightly armoured
heavily armoured.
o Range – Global o Regional o Littoral (Coastal)
o Warfare and escorting o Warfare, maritime o Coastal patrolling.
some larger ships such security and escort.
as aircraft carriers.
o INS Kolkata o INS Shivalik o INS Abhay

Project 15 and 15A are complete. Project 15 B is ongoing.

Project 15B → Its an ongoing project of Indian Navy to develop latest stealth class warships. They will
be equipped with Brahmos also with Barak-8 which is LRSAM, also indigenously developed MRSAM,
torpedoes, would have capability for anti-submarine warships. Four ships have been developed under
Project 15B. First three in above screenshot have been commissioned and INS Surat is launched
(means some work is still pending).

Aircraft Carriers significance

• It helps during land battels. For example, during 1971 Indo Pakistan war INS Vikrant supported
the ground forces.
• It can soften the land targets beforehand. That is before the forces reach the ground.
• They provide security to island territories such as Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshdweep.
• Help in preservation of overseas of assets.
• Ensure that SLOCs (Sea lines of communications) are open. They do this by ensuring that the
choke points are not dominated by a particular country. (eg Malacca Strait)
• During humanitarian crisis they can provide relief. They can be like a floating hospital, provide
electricity, food and water.
• They are the strongest symbol of hard power of a country. So if India wants to be a global power,
it should be a naval power.

At present there are two operational aircraft carriers.

1) INS Vikramaditya – India bought this from Russia. It was an old aircraft carrier of Russian navy
known as admiral Gorshkov. The deal started in 2003-04 time and the estimated cost was 1 $
Billion. However, it was commissioned in the Indian navy in 2013 at a cost of 2.3$ billion. Due to
significant cost and time overrun there was a need felt to indigenous aircraft carrier.
2) INS Vikrant – It is IAC-I (Indigenous aircraft carrier first) built by CSL (Cochin shipyard limited). It
is similar size to that of Vikramaditya. It has space for 30 aircraft and few helicopters. It is also
designed to accommodate women officers. Its motto has been taken from Rigveda ‘I defeat
those who fight against me’.
3) INS Vishal – it will be IAC-II. But much larger than INS Vikrant. Its expected tonnage is around
65000 tonnes.
Drone rules/Policies

Government in 2021 had brought drone rules. However, it was criticised for being very restrictive →

➢ Needed security clearance before applying for piolet license.

➢ Needed permission before every flight.
➢ Lot of paper work was involved.

So, government repealed these rules and brought new drone rules.

Features→

o Categorisation of Drones
• Nano < 250 gm
• Micro – 250 gm to 2 Kg
• Small – 2 Kg to 25 Kg
• Medium – 25 Kg to 150 Kg
• Large > 150 Kg
o No security clearance is required before applying for piolet license.
o No piolet license is needed to fly nano and micro drones for recreational and scientific purpose.
o A digital sky platform has been created which acts like a single window system where most of
the permissions are granted with minimum
human intervention. Also, this platform contains
an interactive map of India diving it into different
zones. Red Zone, Orange Zone and Green Zone.
➢ Red Zone – Cannot fly.
➢ Orange Zone – Can fly but with permission.
➢ Green Zone – No permission needed.

The zonation has been done both horizontally and vertically.

Find out applications of Drones. (Google it)

Find out some military drones (Rustom, Ripper, Predator)

 Nano-technology

Nano scale refers to anything between 1 nm to 100 nm. Nano technology is the science and engineering
of Materials at nano scale.

Historical background of Nano technology → The ideas and concepts of nano technology were first
introduced by Richard Feynman. Feynman in his famous talk “There is plenty of space at bottom, 1959”
described processes through which scientists would be able to manipulate individual atoms. However,
at this point of time scientists were not able to see individual atoms and molecules. Only with
development of very powerful microscope in early 1980s were scientist able to see individual atoms
and molecules. So, the journey of modern nano science & technology began.

Why Properties change at nano scale?

Context → Most materials at nano scale show significant deviation in their properties – chemical,
optical, physical, magnetic at the nano scale due to the following reasons.

➢ Size – Size decreases drastically which changes many properties. For example,
o Optical property = Gold at bulk reflects light and at nano scale it starts absorbing light.
Larger gold nano particles are red in colour and smaller ones are blue in colour. Smaller
a particle the bluer it is.
o Mechanical property = Gold at bulk has a melting point of 1053 degree and at nano scale
850 degree.
o Magnetic Property = Gold at bult is not magnetic but gold nano particles get attracted to
magnet.
➢ Surface area – as the size decreases the surface area increases. SA determines the chemical
reactivity of the materials. At Nano scale more of the atoms and molecules are exposed to
surface so its chemical reactivity increases. For example, Gold at bulk is inert where as gold
nano-particles chemically very reactive.
➢ Quantum law starts to Dominate at the nano scale. For example,
o Electrons revolve around nucleus not due to gravity but due to electro-magnetic
attractive force between electron and nucleus.
o Superposition = existence of two or multiple states at the same time. Example,
• Schrodinger cat – it is a thought experiment. A cat is put in a box along with venom.
And the box is closed. While the box is closed one cannot clearly point out whether
the cat is alive or dead. It is in superposition of life and death.
• If a coin has zero and one as heads and tails, on flipping the coin we either get zero
or one. However, if it is spinning, then we can say it is in superposition of zero and
one.
• An electron has top spin and bottom spin. Since we cannot see the electron at
best we can say that the electron is in super position of top spin and bottom spin.
o Quantum entanglement – Quantum objects in superposition can be interlinked with
each other. State of one quantum object in superposition will determine the state of
second quantum object in superposition.
Allotropes – Elements having different physical property but same chemical properties. For example,
Carbon has a different allotrope such as graphite, diamond, C-16 etc.

Graphene – It is a single layer of carbon atom in which the atoms are arranged hexagonally.

Properties of Graphene

➢ It is much stronger than Diamond yet more flexible/elastic than rubber. It is thin but very strong.
It had very high strength to weight ratio.
➢ It has very superior thermal conductivity.
➢ It has superior electrical conductivity.
➢ It is optically transparent yet impermeable to most of the gases.

Applications of Graphene

➢ Water filtration –graphene membranes have pore size much smaller than even bacteria and virus
so it can help to remove such microbes.
➢ Desalination – Removal of salt from sea water to make it drinkable or potable (drinkable). The
present processes are not economical. Graphene membrane has the potential to make this
process much cheaper.
➢ Carbon dioxide capture – it can help to fight climate change by removing CO2 from the
atmosphere which could then be sequestered.
➢ It is used in industrial gas separation. Can be used to extract hydrogen.
➢ Material development – since graphene has the quality that has high strength and weight ratio it
could be used in multiple sectors.
a) Space craft, Aeronautics, Automobiles
b) In making smart textiles such as bulletproof wests, fire retardant cloths, anti-microbial
cloths etc.
c) Sporting goods – Hockey sticks, rackets, golf clubs, sports arrow
d) Industrial coatings – Blades of wind turbine can be coated with graphene which reduces
corrosion. End parts of robots can also be coated to reduce wear and tear.
➢ In the field of electronics and energy sector –
o graphene membrane can be used as flexible screens in mobile phones, laptops etc.
o it improves the energy carrying capacity of rechargeable batteries also increases the
charging rate.
o Can improve the storage capacity of capacitors. (Charge storage device)
o It can help to make photo-voltaic cells thinner, flexible and cheaper.
 Carbon Nano Tube (CNT) – The carbon atoms are arranged in
tubular form. They are cylindrical molecules that consist of single
layer of carbon atoms. It appears like a graphene sheet has been
folded to take shape of tube. It is categorised into single walled
CNT and multi wall CNT.

Properties of CNT

➢ Much stronger than steel but its density is 1/6th to steel – high strength to weight ration material.
➢ It has superior electrical and thermal conductivity.
➢ Chemically stable. However, it is biodegradable.
➢ The hollow interior of CNT could be used to store nano-medicines.

Applications of CNT

➢ Water filtration – CNT’s pore size is smaller than that of microbes.

➢ In electronics industry it has the potential to replace silicon-based chips. [Gorden Moore’s law
– number of transistors on a chip doubles in every two years]
➢ CNTs can also be dopped (adding impurities) to make it behave like a semiconductor or have
variable electrical conductivity.
➢ CNTs can also be used in chemical industries. They act as good catalyst as they have high
surface area.
➢ Medical –
a) Can be used to make blood vessels.
b) Can be used for targeted drug delivery.
c) In regenerative therapy it can act as Scaffolding for tissue regeneration.
➢ In material development very similar to graphene.

Fullerenes – Allotrope of carbon, it has around 60 Carbon molecule forming a ball like structure so often
called as Bucky ball or C-60.

Metallic nano materials

Gold nano particles

➢ Bio imaging – means visualising bio-molecules such as DNA, RNA even cells itself. It can be used
for cancer detection. Gold nano particles improve the visualisation.
➢ Cancer therapy – in photo thermal therapy to kill cancer cells.
➢ In targeted drug delivery.
➢ In catalytic convertors it can be used as catalyst to reduce pollution.
➢ In Photo-Voltaic cell it can increase the light absorption capacity thus increasing the efficiency
of solar cell.

Silver nano particles

➢ They are anti-microbial in nature – Wound dressing, in textile and coating, in food packaging
which increases the shelf life.
➢ It can be used as nano sensors to detect toxins, pathogens, biomolecules.
Platinum nano particles

➢ Involved in production of chemicals such as nitric acid also in catalytic convertors and vehicles.
➢ In environment – Helps to degrade pollutants.
➢ In Photo-voltaic cells it can increase the efficiency.
➢ In electrolysis of water. Means Break down of water in presence of electricity. Platinum nano
particles act as catalyst [Green Hydrogen =hydrogen obtain from electrolysis of water, the
electricity used comes from renewable sources]
➢ It can also be used in fuel cells [ fuel cells – it produces electricity by combining hydrogen and
oxygen]

Find about Iron nano particles.

Quantum Dots – They are nano sized semiconductor particles.

Properties

➢ Size dependent properties→Smaller the particle bluer the colour.

➢ Tuneable emission. It means that emitted wavelength can be very precisely controlled. Thus,
producing vast range of colours.
➢ Photo stability – It can emit light without significant degradation over extended periods of time.

Applications

➢ Display and lighting – very high quality QLED tv uses quantum dot. These are very energy efficient
and produces vivid colours or very rich colours. It improves the energy efficiency of the LEDs.
➢ Bio-imaging – Quantum dots can give higher resolution to observe cells, DNA, protein etc.
➢ In solar cells or PV cells QDOT can improve efficiency by capturing broader spectrum of light.
➢ In quantum computer it can be used as qubits. [Qubit – superposition of 0 and 1]

2023 noble prize given to three scientists Bawendi, Brus and Yekimov.

Issues/ concerns of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology

o Technical Challenges
• Controlling size and shape.
• Scalability -Suitable for small scale production.
• Stability – These powders have tendency of degradation and agglomerates.
• Characterisation of sample that is to find out size and composition.
• Highly harmful- some nano materials can pass through the cell membrane and can
damage parts of cell. This is referred as nano toxicity.
• Can cause nano pollution.
• This technology can be weaponised also. It can be misused to create chemical weapons.
o Other challenges
• Nano sensors can invade privacy.
• Lack of infrastructure.
• Lack of expertise.
• Low level of research and development.
• Little collaboration between industria and academia and lack of awareness.
Govt’s nano mission – It is an umbrella program of govt of India for overall development in the field of
nano technology launched in 2007. DST is the nodal agency. Some objectives are,

o Promoting research – Funding research projects of individuals and organisations. Creation of

centres of excellence.
o Infrastructure development – Developing chain of facilities across nation.
o Human capital development.
o International collaboration.
o Development of product and processes for national development especially in areas of safe
drinking water, drug delivery, sensor development, material development etc.
 IT and Computers

Web 1.0 – It is the first stage of internet which began in early 1990s. The nature of the website was static.
Only one way communication was possible. Users were not able to generate Data. Only few people
(Content creators) and broadcasting organisations were creating information.

Web 2.0 – Websites started becoming dynamic. That is two-way communication between creator and
user started. Users were able to avail services such as banking and govt services, buy and sell goods
over the internet, access online content. It has led to emergence of social media which intern has led
to creation of vast amounts of user generated data. However, web 2.0 has led to dominance by few
internets’ giant companies such as the MAANG companies (Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google).
In Web 2.0 privacy has become a myth so users have very little or no control over even their personal
data. Most of the apps cannot be downloaded without giving them access to contact list, messages
and personal album or photographs.

Web 3.0 – During the 2008 Global financial crisis Satoshi Nakamoto blamed too much centralisation of
Money as the major reason for the crisis. This crisis was mainly due to subprime landing by banks to
encash or to ride on Housing bubble. Nakamoto pointed out that in this crisis common people suffered
the most as they lost their houses and also their livelihood. And the big bangs were bailed out using tax
payers’ money. So, the need was felt to develop decentralised currency in which there would be no need
of third party such as the central bank (FED). To develop decentralised currency block chain technology
was developed. Web 3.0 has evolved from those days and it incorporates the idea of decentralisation
of internet. That is people should have control over internet and privacy of individual should be a strong
pillar in Web 3.0.

Web 4.0 – it is in ideational stage. It means the ideas and concepts are still evolving for this stage. At
present this stage is known as smart web because the AI system will become so advanced that it would
become personalise giving specific replies to every individual.

Web 5.0 – Also known as sensory web as almost all sensory organs would be engaged not only audio-
visual sensory organs. It is a stage in which humans would have dual existence one in the real physical
world and the other would be in online digital world also called as metaverse. Augmented reality and
virtual reality are some starting tools to create and enter such world that is meta verse.
Blockchain

It is a digital ledger which have following characteristics.

o It is distributed and decentralised.

o It is immutable – once created it is difficult to change.
o It is mathematically verified – the blocks are encrypted using mathematical puzzles and the key
is shared only with the members of the network.

Benefits

o It ensures transparency as every transaction is monitored by peer-to-peer network.

o It is decentralised so internet or the related technologies is owned and controlled not by an
individual but by the network.
o Real time transaction would take place. Reduce the cost of intermediaries.
o Proper record keeping which would be difficult to tempered.
o Highly secured as it is based on cryptography.
o It would help in digitalisation of economy and society.

Applications

o It is the technology behind crypto currency and NFT.

o Helps to create more secure trading platform for financial assets such as Stocks, derivatives,
crypto etc.
o Crowd funding platform can be setup using block chain.
o Health sector.
• Creating personal medical records based on block chain. India is also trying to set up
ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health accounts)
• USA is pioneer using block chain to build public health record.
• It would help to reduce interoperability issues between different hospitals, between
different ministries etc.
o Government
• In conducting elections block chain method can prevent voter fraud.
 • It would help to make public record keeping tamperproof and also would lead to
digitisation of records.
• Help to reduce interoperability issues between different ministries and department. Thus
improving the coordination between different govt bodies. This would boost the
developmental process.

Challenges and concerns of Blockchain

• Infrastructure
➢ High requirement of hardware and software power.
➢ Multiple copies of the blocks are created which needs to be stored on servers thus
increasing carbon footprint. Also, there would be need of high degree of cooling of
computers and servers.
➢ In countries like India, Electricity and internet is still a concern. India experiences a digital
divide that is rural people do not have access to smart phones and internet. So this
technology would appeared to be alien to them.
• Building consensus would be a time taking process.
• Not completely immune to hacking – if all the nodes are hacked then the system would not be
safe.
• Interoperability issues between old data base and new data base based on block chain. Between
different block chain-based data bases.
• In case of crypto currency, the block chain method could be misused by anti-social elements
for terror financing, money laundering etc.
• In case of crypto currency, the monetary authority of the country could be challenged as the
central bank might fail to control money supply, thus failing to control inflation.
• All of these technologies are still in developmental stage.

Crypto-Currency

It is a digital currency having following characteristics.

1) It is fiduciary currency – Currency based on trust. (If a country makes it legal, it would become
fiat currency or legal tender)
2) It is irreputable – Neither the sender nor the receiver can deny that the transaction took place.
3) It is blockchain based.
4) It is mathematically verified.

Bitcoin/Crypto-currency and its regulation in India

➢ In 2018, RBI had put ban on banks in dealing with crypto currency. Which had effectively put ban
on crypto trading in India. However, this ban was lifted by Supreme court in 2020 and within a
year the crypto market boomed in India.
➢ Government in budget of 2022-2023 announced that profits from virtual digital assets such as
crypto, NFT and computer programs would be taxed at 30% rate with no offsetting allowed. LTCG
(Long term capital gain) is 10% and STCG is 15% in India. And offsetting is allowed in LTCG and
STCG. So comparatively govt is trying to demotivate crypto trading in India.
➢ Govt in 2021 had framed crypto currency and official digital currency bill 2021 but it has not been
passed by parliament till yet.
 ➢ A parliamentary committee on finance met different stake holders, crypto traders and experts.
Crypto traders are arguing that crypto currency should not be seen as currency rather as an asset
class. Some suggestion of this committee →
• Crypto trading should not be banned rather regulated.
• A new regulator can be setup or SEBI can be given additional charge.
• Investor protection mechanism should be setup.
• Development of grievance redressal mechanism.
• Focus on generating awareness amongst investors.

NFT – Non-Fungible Token

It means that something is unique so it cannot be further divided into smaller parts. In physical world
paintings, writings could be considered a unique creation. NFT implies that the asset is digital and it is
unique so it cannot be subdivided and it would not be used as medium of exchange.

Token in NFT means right of ownership of digital asset or digital creation. It doesn’t give copyright
meaning that others can copy the NFT but cannot claim to be the owner of the NFT. Even physical world
creation could be converted into digital creation and then converted into NFT.

Process

1) Creation of some digital asset or digital art.

2) Registering the above on some NFT platform such as Open Sea, Wazirx NFT (Indian) by paying
gas fee (registration fee).
3) The NFT is said to minted that is the first block of the blockchain is created.
4) Others on the platform can buy and sell the minted NFT.

Regulation in India

1) NFTs are also treated as virtual digital assets. Taxation – 30%, no offsetting allowed, TDS
deducted.

Artificial Intelligence

It implies that the machine developed cognitive abilities like that of Humans. Their knowledge base
keeps on expanding which helps them to improve their actions. Stages of AI
Reactive machine – it is the first stage of AI, its decisions are not determined by past data. For example,
Deep Blue chess program of IBM, defeated Garry Kasparov the then Grandmaster. It made calculations
of all possible move and chose the most strategic one.

Limited Memory – at this stage the AI system would take decisions based on some past information or
data. Example – present day’s self-driving cars. Even Chat GPT, Gemini.

Theory of Mind – At this stage the AI system would be able to understand individual’s belief values
personalities and temperament. The emotional side of humans also play major role in decision making.

Self-awareness – At this stage the AI system would not only understand other’s emotions but would
also develop own’s emotions, values and believes. They would become sentient beings.

Artificial intelligence: Concerns and Ethical issues

1. AI Bias – Since, the AI systems are learning from data generated by humans, if humans are
biased, data will be biased and so would be the AI system. For example, Microsoft chatbot Tay
was found to be using antisemitic and misogynistic vocabulary as it was training on tweeter data.
Initial version of Chat GPT considered black scientists to be inferior to white scientists.
2. Liability issues – in case of some accidents by an AI system who would be held liable. For
example, if a completely autonomous AI car meets with an accident and people are injured or
killed then who will be held liable – car owner, manufacturer, the injured and killed person,
government etc.
3. Ethical decisions – specially in times of extreme situations, for example, in an inevitable car
accident how will it decide to address the damage. It would try to minimise the losses but that
might not be the most ethical decision.
4. Privacy and confidentiality issues – for example, IBM Watson AI system is considered to be one
of the best health care applications. It mines into the personal data of an individual and other
data to form a hypothesis and then gives a response. In most cases its responses are better than
physical doctors or real doctors. However, it raises the concern that intimate personal data is
also used which compromises privacy.
5. Misuse of AI tools – Deep fake videos and photographs of public figures has become quite often.
Example, Donald trump, Tom Cruise etc.
6. Data Ecosystem – India doesn’t have proper data ecosystem to collect data, to process data and
store data. So, the AI system would always face the challenge of training.
7. Digital Divide – People in rural area might not have access to smart phones, internet or this AI
system.
8. Low level of expertise
9. Lack of infrastructure → Chat GPT is trained using Super computers and they are made of AI
chips. In India there is no domestic chip manufacturer.

Application of AI

1. NLP – Natural language Processing – It involves understanding of Human language by the

machine and then processing it for further applications. Examples—text to speech translation,
speech to text translation, from one language to another language translation, spam detection
in mails, chat bots – chat GPT, GEMINI, Claude etc.
Note – Chat GPT → Generative Pretrained Transformer. This chat bot generates responses based
on previously fed data. It has been trained using super computers and human trainers. The
 trainers would look into the input and also the output produced to check for accuracy, relevance
and ethically correct response. Transformer means that it focuses on keywords which the user
has typed to give the most relevant response. It is trained on large language models. Which
basically is vast amount of data of multiple types of languages and dialects. The initial version
of chat GPT was unimodal (means it could process only text) but the later versions have become
multi modal that is it can process text, speech, images and even videos.

3D Printing -- It is also called as addictive manufacturing as the product is produced by adding one
layer after another. Unlike in conventional processes where the undesired materials or parts are
removed either by handheld tools or machines.

Advantages of 3D printing

1. Reduce wastage as materials are not chipped off or removed rather added layer by layer.
2. Time effectiveness – Bangaluru 3D printed post-office was printed in just 45 days.
3. Customisation will be much easier.
4. Any shape of the product could be possible.
5. Cost effective as manual labour would be needed much less.
6. It would eventually lead to upscaling of people or work force.
7. In case the input material used are living cells, then 3D bio printed parts of body could also be
made. (part of Regenerative therapy)

Concerns and limitations of 3D printing

1. Limited material which can be 3D printed – Plastics, ceramics, cements, metal etc. Only those
materials could be used which would stick to the subsequent layers.
2. Limited size of material – large object at present might not be 3D printed.
3. Dangerous items could also be 3D printed by antisocial elements such as parts of rockets, guns
etc.
4. Copyright issues.
5. Prone to hacking as most of the process is computerised.
6. In India there are not 3D printer manufacturer.
7. India imports 3D printers and the import duty is around 30-40%.
8. Potential loss of low skilled jobs.
9. Concerns of bio printing – all concerns of bio tech will be applied here.

Applications of 3D printing (From handouts)

Augmented Reality – in this some computer-generated images are added to the real world.

Virtual reality – here completely online digital world is created. There is no reality, however, the Virtual
world derives inspiration from the real world so the term virtual reality.
Supercomputers – they are considered to be most powerful computers. They operate using Bits (binary
digits). They utilise the increased capacity of chips. The size of the transistors in these chips has
reached to nano-scale. These chips are generally placed in cryogenic fluids where they are the fastest.
The length of the wires has also been reduced leading to miniaturisation of circuits.

The world’s fastest super computer is frontier of USA. In the top 500 Super computers of the world India
has 4 super computers.

National Super-computing mission

It started with the objectives –

a) To create network of Supercomputers in India. These Supercomputers would be connected to

each other creating supercomputing greed.
b) More than 17 supercomputers will be built under this mission.
c) More or nearly 20,000 professionals will be trained in supercomputing field.
d) Global collaboration to learn from best practices.

Seymour Crey is known as father of Supercomputer. Indian father of Super computer is Vijay Pandurang
Bhatkar.

Application of Supercomputers → Understanding universe, health, material development, weather

forecasting, financial sector. (Do it from handouts)

Cloud computing is providing computing services on

demand by a cloud service provider via internet with pay
as you go pricing model.
Advantages of Cloud computing

• Cost effectiveness – many firms buying IT infra and maintaining it would be costly. Instead,
centralisation of the IT infra and services would help achieve economies of scale.
• Agility – Newer ideas could be tested easily.
• Flexibility – The services could be ramped up or down according to business cycle.
• Better storage of data – The cloud service providers provide backup data.
• More secure as the cloud service provider can deploy latest anti-virus and also use services of
best security experts.
• It can reduce E-waste.

Concerns or limitations of cloud computing

• Centralisation of computing would increase vulnerability in case of hacking.

• Infrastructure issues – requirement of high-speed internet and continuous electricity.
• Control over data – since the data is not stored locally it could decrease the control over usage
of data (against the idea of data localisation)
• Digital divide – some people do not have access to basic devices.
• In govt sector sensitive data cannot be stored on global cloud.
Cell is the smallest structural and functional part of living organism. The term cell was coined by Robert
Hook in the year 1665.

Cell theory features

o All living organisms whether simple or complex are made up of cells.

o Cells come from pre-existing cells. It means that cells cannot be created spontaneously. Cells
divide to form new cells.
o Diversity of cells – there are many types of cells. Broadly they can be categorised into
prokaryotes and Eukaryotes. Some organisms are unicellular and some are multicellular.
o All living organism begin their life as a single cell only. Eventually they can become multicellular.
Prokaryotes

• Primitive cell which doesn’t have nucleus.

• Organelles are absent
• Number of chromosomes – 1
• Cell division – Fission.
• Unicellular.
• Example – bacteria.

Eukaryotes

• Nucleus and organelles are present.

• Multiple chromosome (Humans have 46 Chromosome – 23 from father and 23 from Mother)
• Cell division – Mitosis or Meiosis
• Unicellular – yeast, Protozoa. Multicellular – Plants, Animals.

Organelles – Substructures inside cells which have specific functions.

Eukaryotes are further divided into Body cells/Somatic cells and Germ cells/Sex cells.

Germ Cells/Sex cells

o The cells present inside reproductive organs (Female – cells inside ovaries and in Male – cells
inside Testes).
o They are diploid initially but when they divide and form the gametes that is, egg cell and sperm
cell, the gametes are haploid. Haploid means chromosomes are not present in pairs. There is
unique purpose of haploid which are primary involved in reproduction.

Body Cells

o All cells other than Germs cells are called body cells
o Body cells are diploid – cells which have chromosomes in pairs.
o Purpose is growth and development. Example – Skin cell, bone cells etc.

Structure of cells (Animal Cells)

Cell membrane → It plays critical role in

a) Providing protection to organelles

b) Allowing nutrients, water, gas and waste to pass through. So, it is semi permeable in nature.
c) It will stick with other cells to form tissues and many tissues with combine to form organs.
d) Also involved in cell signalling.

Protoplasm → Gel like structure or medium which facilitates other organelles to function.

Nucleus → it is the command-and-control centre of the cell or brain of the cell. It houses the
chromosomes. Chromosomes contain coded information for some traits or characteristics. Humans
have 46 chromosomes or 23 sets.

Nucleolus → it is the specialised substructure present inside nucleus. It is responsible for synthesis of
ribosomes.

Ribosomes → they are known as protein factories of the cell. They joined different types of amino acid
to form a chain. When this chain of amino acid folds in 3D pattern it forms proteins. Ribosomes can be
present in the free state in the cytoplasm or on the surface of Endoplasmic reticulum.

Endoplasmic Reticulum → it provides internal structure to the cell. It also helps in transport of
materials. There are two types of ER –

o Rough Endoplasmic reticulum → it is involved in protein synthesis. It is responsible for

membrane genesis.
o Smooth ER → Involved in synthesis of lipids or fats.

Mitochondria → It is power house of cell because it converts

food into energy. Around 1% of DNA (humans) is present
inside the mitochondria. This Mitochondrial DNT (Mt DNA)
is inherited only from the mother side. The male gamete or
sperm cell has just 5-7 mitochondria. That too is destroyed
during the fusion process. The mother’s egg cell contains
around 2 lakh Mitochondria which are then transferred to
the Zygote.

Golgi Bodies → They are known as packaging units of cells. They process proteins and fats so as to be
transferred from the cell.

Lysosome → Suicide bags of the cell. It contains enzymes which can digest non-functional part of cells.
If the membrane of the lysosome is ruptured the enzyme can digest the whole cell so it is called as
suicide bag of the cell.

Vacuoles → in animal cells there are smaller vacuoles compared to plant cells. They are also more in
number. Their role is to store food, water and waste.

Centrioles/ Centrosome → only animal cells have this. They help the cell during cell division. If there
are defects in centrioles it can even lead to cancer. Uncontrolled cell division – cell division starts but
fails to stop.
Structure of Plant Cell

Cell wall – It is generally composed of cellulose. They are complex carbohydrates. The role of the cell
wall is to provide protection and rigidity to the plant cell to help it to survive in harsh conditions. It
prevents from plant cells from bursting in very dilute medium (hypotonic). It also provides protection
against disease causing agents (Pathogens).

Plastids →

o Chloroplast – Contains green pigment that is chlorophyll which helps the plant to carry
photosynthesis.
o Chromoplast – it provides colour to different parts of the plant. Such as red colour of tomato,
roses, yellow-coloured leaves etc.
o Leucoplast – Leuco means colourless. Its role is to store food.

Vacuoles → they are large, mature plant cells generally have one large vacuole. They help to store food,
waste and water. They are involved in osmo-regulation.

Diffusion → Movement of particles/salute from higher concentration to lower concentration. Example

– exchange of gases in the lungs. Oxygen is diffusing in and CO2 is diffusing out of RBC.

Osmosis → It is movement of solvent from higher concentration of solvent to lower concentration of

solvent via a membrane.

Reverse osmosis – It is a process by which water

moves from low concentration of water to high
concentration of water due to application of
pressure.
Osmoregulation – it is the process by which living organism try to maintain water and electrolyte (salts
of Sodium, potassium, magnesium etc) level to achieve homeostasis. Homeostasis is a response of
the body to achieve stable internal condition. Example -Sweating, shivering etc.

Osmoregulation in plants is mainly carried out by Vacuoles. If the plant is in dry environment, it will
store more water. In case of wet environment plants lose water by increased transpiration (Evaporation
of water from the leaves). Osmoregulation in animals is carried by excretory system.

Cell capsule – it is made up of polysaccharide (Complex

carbohydrates). It provides protection to bacteria to
survive in very harsh conditions, such as very acidic (PH
less than 3), very basic (PH more than 10) and very
extreme temperatures. It also protects the bacteria
against the disease-causing viruses. It also protects the
bacteria from the immune response of the body.

Cell wall – The cell wall is made up of peptidoglycan (combination of proteins and sugar). Some bacteria
have thick peptidoglycan layer and they are called as Gram positive bacteria. Bacteria which have thin
layer of peptidoglycan are called Gram negative bacteria.

DNA – in bacteria the genetic material is DNA only and not RNA. The DNA lies in a specific region of
cytoplasm called as the nucleoid region. Some DNAs ends joined to form circular DNA which is called
as Plasmid. Used extensively in Bio technology as vector

Ribosome – It synthesise proteins. However, Bacterial ribosomes are much smaller than the ribosomes
found inside Animal and plant cells.

Flagellum – it is useful in bacterial motility or movement.

Pilus – It is hairlike structure found on surface of the bacteria. It helps bacteria to stick to different
surfaces. Also, it leads to infection of the host, through the pili the genetic material of the bacteria is
transferred to the host.

Cell Division – Living organism undergo cell division. Not only for reproduction but also for growth and
development. However, different organisms would undergo different cell division processes.
Prokaryotes undergo fission and Eukaryotes undergo mitosis or Meiosis.

Fission →

• In the initial stage the DNA make copy of itself.

• The cytoplasm starts to segregate.
• The cell then starts to constrict and eventually
splits into daughter cells.

The daughter cells are genetically similar to the

parent cells or in other words they are clones of
the parent cell. This process also known as
Binary fission because two daughter cells are
being formed.
 Mitosis occurs in both types of cells.
(somatic cells and germ cells). Where as
Meiosis occurs only in Germ cells.

Mitosis purpose is Growth and development

& repair and maintenance. Meiosis purpose
is production of gametes (Sexual
reproduction)

DNA – It is a fundamental unit to code for traits or characteristics. DNA is composed of,

• Sugar - Deoxyribose
• phosphate
• Nitrogenous Bases (Nucleotides) – Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, Cytosine.

Structure of DNA

DNA has double helical structure and this structure was given by Watson and Crick. The bases are
connected with each other with the help of Hydrogen bond. Two bases together such as A-T or C-G is
called as one base pair. In humans there are 3.2 billion base pairs.

Genes – they are functional part of DNA. That is, they code for specific trait or information. In humans
on an average a gene contains around three thousand base pairs. A gene code for specific protein In
humans there are around 20 thousand to 25 thousand genes. Presence of CCR5 genes makes human
vulnerable to HIV.
Chromosomes – Tightly packaged DNA. Or it is housing of DNA. Different organisms have different
number of chromosomes. Humans have 46 Chromosomes, Chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes,
Pigeons have 80. Chromosomes are categorised into two types. Autosomal and Sex.

Sex chromosomes in human is the last chromosome. Chromosome #23. It can by XX or XY. It
determines biological sex.

Autosomal – all other than sex are called autosomal chromosomes. #1 to #22. It determines somatic
character or body character.

Alleles are variants of the same gene. For example, Eye colour gene
has different alleles. Blue eye colour allele, Green, Brown, Black.

ABO blood group has three alleles – A, B and O.

Rh blood group has two allele – Rh positive and Rh Negative.

Alleles combines in pairs in two formats. Same alleles then

Homozygous (blue blue eye colour pairs). Heterozygous when two
different pairs (Blue brown eyes pairs).

Alleles can be either dominant or recessive.

Dominant allele expresses itself in both heterozygous and homozygous conditions. They mask the
effect of recessive allele.

Recessive expresses only in recessive condition. They fail to mask the effect of dominant allele mainly
because it is not able to make corresponding protein.

Genotype – It is the genetic composition of an organism or combination of alleles.

Phenotype – it is the physical expression of the genes.

Even if both parents are positive the child can be

negative genetically.

Find out location of ABO gene and location of Rh gene.

If both parents have negative blood group, then offspring

cannot be negative.
 In Sickel cell Anaemia Hb produced is defective. This
defective Hb changes the shape of RBC making it half-
moon shape and fails to carry sufficient amount of
oxygen.

Find out about Thalassemia.

Males are more prone to X linked recessive disorder such as Haemophilia and colour-blindness.
Haemophilia is also known as Royal Disease.

Find out any disease which is X linked dominant disorder.

Nuclear DNA – Inherited from both the parents. It is found inside nucleus. It has 20K to 25K genes. It
controls cellular function and inheritance of traits.

Mt DNA – Inherited from the mother side. Found in Mitochondria. There are 37 genes. It controls
synthesis of proteins which is responsible for energy production by the cell.

RNA -Ribose Nucleic Acid → The composition of RNA – Sugar (Ribose), Phosphate groups,
Nitrogenous basis (Adenine, Uracil, Cytosine, Guanine). The structure of RNA is generally single
stranded.

Types of RNA

mRNA – It carries the message from inside the nucleus to Ribosomes in cytoplasm to make specific
type of protein. Every gene code for protein. But protein is synthesised outside of nucleus at ribosomes.
The genes with the help of an enzyme called as RNA Polymerase creates mRNA. This mRNA then travels
out of the nucleus to reach ribosomes.

tRNA – it carries the raw material of proteins. That is Amino Acids to protein factories (i.e Ribosomes).
rRNA – it is the building block of ribosomes. Ribosomes are some combination of Proteins and rRNA.

Proteins → They are chains of Amino Acids folded in 3D pattern. Protein synthesis involves two
processes.

o Transcription – it is the process by which mRNA is created in the nucleus, the mRNAs are also
called as Transcript. A gene unzips and with the help of RNA polymerase mRNA is created. This
mRNA moves out of the nucleus to reach ribosomes in cytoplasm.
o Translation – The Ribosomes reads the instruction provided by mRNA. tRNA brings amino acids
to the ribosomes. Ribosomes based on the instruction of mRNA assembles these amino acids.
When the last amino acid has been added to the chain the chain folds in complex 3D pattern to
form protein.

Central Dogma given by Crick – DNA → RNA→Protein.

Living organism store genetic info in DNA. DNA makes

RNA and RNA makes protein. Genotype becomes
phenotype in this manner.

Exception – Retrovirus (HIV) [ It makes RNA to DNA] →

reverse transcription.

RNA interference – It is a mechanism to regulate gene expression. Living organism could use or uses
this to silence some of the genes. This mechanism could be use to develop potential therapies.

o To treat cancer → some genes which become cancerous could be silenced using small
interfering RNAs.
o To develop pain relief therapies.
o To develop genetically modified crops.
o To induce a sleep.
o Some risk genes which can cause disease could be silenced.

Principle of Biotechnology/Genetic Engineering

Since all living organisms have evolved from a common ancestor – biologically and chemically all
organisms are similar at molecular level that is at the cell level or at the DNA level. Examples →

• In Bt-Cotton a gene from Bacillus Thuringiensis is extracted and transferred to cotton plant
tissue. The cotton plant starts making protein which kills the pests.
• Artificial insulin is produced by transferring human insulin gene inside body of bacteria. This
gene starts making insulin which is filtered and given to diabetic patients.

Gene therapy or genetic engineering is very powerful method which can alter the gene present inside
both somatic cells and inside germ cells. If modifications are made in gametes (Eggs or sperms), Zygote
or embryo then these modifications would be passed on to subsequent generations.
Tools of Biotechnology/ genetic engineering

1) Molecular Scissors (Restrictive Enzymes) → This enzyme helps to cut DNA. It is extracted from
bacteria. Some bacteria are attacked by Viruses. (They are called as Bacteriophage – Phage
means food) These viruses then transferred their genetic material into body of bacteria which
can then multiply. The bacteria produce restrictive enzyme which cuts the viral genetic material
into multiple small fragments so that it is not able to multiply.
2) Polymerase → it is enzyme which make multiple copies of a desired DNA. Living organisms use
polymerase enzyme during cell division to make multiple copies of DNA.
3) DNA Ligase → Ligase comes from the word ligation. Ligation means sticking. This enzyme helps
to stick ends of DNA. Living organism use this enzyme during cell repair and maintenance.
4) Vector → They are the carriers of desired genes into a body of host. Vectors can be Plasmid,
Bacteria, Viruses including bacteriophages, Yeast and some fungi etc.
5) Preparation of Host and transfer of Genes → The host might reject the desired genes. So, the
host must be prepared to accept the new genes. There are couple of ways to do this. The most
popular method is thermal shock method. There are also other ways to create shocks. Such as
electrical shock method called as electroporation, Chemical shock method that will be called
as chemically mediated transfer.

Methods of gene editing

1) Recombinant DNA method (rDNA) – this method was developed by Stanford scientist Paul Berg
during 1980s. Paul Berg is father of genetic engineering. In this method genes from 2 or more
sources are combined so it is called as recombinant DNA method. Still used for many processes
particularly for production of insulin.
Find out mature insulin and immature insulin. Which cells are involved in production of insulin in human
body. And what is role of insulin.

2) CRISPR Cas 9 It is a Gene Editing tool. It is an efficient and customizable alternative to other
existing genome editing tools. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short
Palindromic Repeats. It uses two enzymes – Guide RNA – this gRNA identifies the desired DNA
sequence and then asks Cas 9 to make cut. Second is Cas 9 enzyme which is restrictive enzyme
used to cut DNA. Because of the gRNA the accuracy of the process increases to very high extent.
It is flexible method in which different types of DNAs from different sources could be edited. For
example, DNA of bacteria, fungi, plants, animals could be modified. It could be used for
modification of existing genes as well as transfer of genes from one organism to another.
Placenta – Semi permeable membrane. Allows exchange of food water waste and gases between
mother bodies and foetus. It doesn’t allow exchange of blood between mother and foetus. However,
some small antibodies such as Rh antibody and some viruses such as HIV can travel past the placental
barrier to affect the foetus.

Yolk Sac – responsible for making Hb and RBC for foetus. As the foetus grows the Yol Sac size
decreases. When the child is delivered the yolk sac mechanism switches off and born marrow synthesis
of Hb starts.

Stem cells – These are bodies master cells. They are undifferentiated cells.
They can differentiate into any type of cell of body.