SCIENCE

TEXTBOOK FOR CLASS X

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First Edition
December 2006 Agrahayana 1928
Reprinted
November 2007, January 2009,
December 2009, November 2010,
January 2012, November 2012,
October 2013, December 2014,
December 2015, February 2017,
January 2018, January 2019,
August 2019, January 2021 and
November 2021
Revised Edition
October 2022, Kartika 1944
Reprinted
March 2024 Chaitra 1946
June 2024 Jyeshtha 1946
December 2024 Pausha 1946
PD 100T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 160.00
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
q No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
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recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
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re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any
form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
q The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised
price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect
and should be unacceptable.
Publication Team

Head, Publication
: M.V. Srinivasan
Division

Chief Editor : Bijnan Sutar

Chief Production
: Jahan Lal
Officer (In charge)
 Chief Business : Amitabh Kumar

Manager

Assistant Production : Deepak Kumar

Officer

Cover, Layout and Illustrations

Digital Expressions
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION
DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT Campus
Sri Aurobindo Marg
New Delhi 110 016 Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road
Hosdakere Halli Extension
Banashankari III Stage
Bengaluru 560 085 Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust Building
[Link]
Ahmedabad 380 014 Phone : 079-27541446
CWC Campus
Opp. Dhankal Bus Stop
Panihati
Kolkata 700 114 Phone : 033-25530454
CWC Complex
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Guwahati 781 021 Phone : 0361-2674869
1064 – SCIENCE ISBN 81-7450-636-5
Textbook for Class X
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the Publication Division by the
Secretary, National Council of Educational
Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg,
New Delhi 110 016 and printed at
Pankaj Printing Press, D-28, Industrial
Area, Site-A, Mathura (U.P.)
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The National Curriculum Framework, (NCF), 2005, recommends that children’s life at
school must be linked to their life outside the school. This principle marks a departure
from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes
a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed
on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt
to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different
subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction
of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education
(1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals and teachers
will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative
activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children
generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults.
Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key
reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity
and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning,
not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode of functioning.
Flexibility in the daily time-table is as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual
calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching.
The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this
textbook proves for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a
source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of
curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with
greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The
textbook attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority and space to
opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and
activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) appreciates
the hard work done by the textbook development team responsible for this book. We
wish to thank the Chairman of the advisory group in science and mathematics, Professor
J.V. Narlikar and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Rupamanjari Ghosh, School
of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for guiding the work of
this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we
are grateful to them and their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to
the institutions and organisations which have generously permitted us to draw upon
their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of
FOREWORD
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the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and
Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairmanship
of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G.P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and
contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous
improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions
which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
20 November 2006 Research and Training
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RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT IN THE TEXTBOOK
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to reduce content load
on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing
the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with
creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the
exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes
already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into
consideration in this exercise.
Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following:
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject areas in the
same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class in the same subject
• Difficulty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without much
interventions from teachers and can be learned by children through
self-learning or peer-learning
• Content, which is irrelevant in the present context
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying out the
changes given above.
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This textbook of Science for Class X is a continuation of our attempt in the Class IX
Science textbook to comply with the guidelines of the National Curriculum
Framework-2005. We had to work within a limited time frame and also had our own
constraints coming in the way of this radical change. The revised and re-structured
syllabus for Class X covers selected topics in the broad themes of — Materials,
The World of the Living, How Things Work, Natural Phenomena and Natural Resources.
We have interpreted the syllabus to present a coherent coverage of scientific concepts
related to our daily life on the select topics. It is an integrated approach to science at
this level, with no sharp divisions into disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology
and Environmental Science.
There has been a conscious attempt to address the relevant social concerns in this
science textbook wherever possible — the concerns for people with special needs, the
issues of gender discrimination, energy and environment have found their natural
place in this book. Students have been encouraged to get into the debates on some of
the management concerns (for sustainable development, for example) so that they
can arrive at their own decisions after a scientific analysis of all the facts.
This book has some features which are meant to enhance its effectiveness. The
theme of each chapter has been introduced with examples from daily life, and if possible,
by a relevant activity that the students have to perform. The entire approach of the
book is, in fact, activity-based, i.e., the students are required to construct knowledge
themselves from these activities. The emphasis is not on definitions and technical
terms, but on the concepts involved. Special care has been taken so that the rigour of
science is not lost while simplifying the language. Difficult and challenging ideas,
which are not to be covered at this stage, have often been placed as extra material in
the boxes in light orange. The excitement of doing science comes from pursuing the
unknown — the students would have the opportunity to think and explore somewhat
beyond the syllabus and may feel the urge to continue their scientific expedition at
higher levels. All such box items, including brief biography of scientists, are, of course,
non-evaluative.
Solved examples are provided, wherever felt necessary, to clarify a concept. The
in-text questions after a main section are for the students to check their understanding
of the topic. At the end of each chapter, there is a quick review of the important points
covered in the chapter. We have introduced some multiple choice questions in the
exercises. There are problems of different difficulty levels answers to the multiplechoice questions and
numericals, and hints for the difficult questions are included at
the end of the book.
PREFACE
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This book has been made possible because of the active participation of many
people. I wish to thank Professor Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT, Prof. G. Ravindra,
Joint Director, NCERT, and Professor Hukum Singh, Head, Department of Education
in Science and Mathematics, NCERT, specially for their keen interest in the development
of the book and for all the administrative support. I wish to put on record my sincere
appreciation for Dr Anjni Koul, the member-coordinator of the textbook development
committee, for her extraordinary commitment and efficiency. It has been a real pleasure
working with my textbook development team and the review committee. The chosen
editorial team worked extremely hard, on tight deadlines, to bring the book close to
the shape that we dreamt of. Fruitful discussions with some members of the MHRD
Monitoring Committee helped in providing the final touches to the book. I do not have
the words to acknowledge the professional and personal inputs I received from some
of my close friends during the preparation of this book. We warmly welcome comments
and suggestions for improvement from our readers.
RUPAMANJARI GHOSH
Professor of Physics
School of Physical Sciences
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi
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CHAIRMAN, ADVISORY GROUP FOR TEXTBOOKS IN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
J.V. Narlikar, Emeritus Professor, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and
Astrophysics (IUCAA), Ganeshkhind, Pune University, Pune
CHIEF ADVISOR
Rupamanjari Ghosh, Professor, School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi
MEMBERS
Alka Mehrotra, Reader, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi
Animesh K. Mohapatra, Reader, Regional Institute of Education, Ajmer
B.B. Swain, Professor (Retd.), Department of Physics, Utkal University, Orissa
B.K. Sharma, Professor, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi
B.K. Tripathi, Reader, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi
Brahm Parkash, Professor, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi
Charu Maini, PGT, Salwan Public School, Gurgaon, Haryana
Dinesh Kumar, Reader, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi
Gagan Gupta, Reader, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi
H.L. Satheesh, TGT , DM School, Regional Institute of Education, Mysore
Ishwant Kaur, PGT, DM School, Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal
J.D. Arora, Reader, Hindu College, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Meenambika Menon, TGT, Cambridge School, Noida, Uttar Pradesh
Puran Chand,Professor and Jt. Director(Retd.), Central Institute of Educational Technology
NCERT, New Delhi
Reeta Sharma, Reader, Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal
R.P. Singh, Lecturer, Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Kishan Ganj, Delhi
Satyajit Rath, Scientist, National Institute of Immunology, JNU Campus, New Delhi
S.K. Dash, Reader, Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar
Sunita Ramrakhiani, PGT, Ahlcon Public School, Delhi
Uma Sudhir, Eklavya, Indore, Madhya Pradesh
Vandana Saxena, TGT, Kendriya Vidyalaya-4, Kandhar Lines, Delhi Cantt., New Delhi
Vinod Kumar, Reader, Hans Raj College, Delhi University, Delhi
MEMBER-COORDINATOR
Anjni Koul, Lecturer, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi
TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), besides expressing
its gratefulness towards the members of the Textbook Development Committee for their
contribution in the development of the Science Textbook for Class X, also acknowledges
the contribution of the following members for reviewing, editing, refining, and finalisation
of the manuscript of the book. Kanhiya Lal, Principal (Retd.), Directorate of Education,
NCT, Delhi; Ranveer Singh, Lecturer, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Timarpur, Delhi; Bharat
Poorey, Professor (Retd.), Govt. Post Graduate College, Indore; Gagandeep Bajaj, Lecturer,
S.P.M. College, Delhi University, Delhi; Ravinder Kaur, TGT, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Rohini,
Delhi; Renu Puri, TGT, N.C. Jindal Public School, New Delhi; Sarita Kumar, Reader,
Acharya Narendra Dev College, Delhi University, Delhi; Shashi Prabha, Lecturer, DESM,
NCERT, Delhi; Rashmi Sharma, Lecturer, NERIE, Shillong; Sushma Jaireth, Reader, DWS,
NCERT, New Delhi; Y.P. Purang, Addl. Director of Education (Retd.), NCT, Delhi; Neeta
Agarwal, TGT, D.L.D.A.V. Model School, Pitampura, Delhi; Roma Anand, TGT, D.L.D.A.V.,
Pitampura, Delhi; Veer Pal Singh, Reader, DEME, NCERT, New Delhi and S.L. Varte,
Lecturer, DESM, NCERT, New Delhi.
The Council also acknowledges the valuable contribution of Sunita Farkya (Professor,
DESM), Pushplata Verma (Assistant Professor, DESM), K.C. Tripathi (Professor, DEL)
and Jatindra Mohan Misra (Professor, DEL) in updating Chapter 16 titled "Sustainable
Management of Natural Resources", and also in the review of this textbook.
The contribution of R.S. Sindhu, Professor (Retd.), DESM; V.P. Srivastava, Professor
(Retd.), DESM; R.K. Parashar, Rachna Garg (Professors, DESM); V.V. Anand, Professor
(Retd.), RIE Mysore; S.V. Sharma (Professor, RIE Mysore); V.P. Singh (Professor, RIE Ajmer);
R. Joshi, Associate Professor (Retd.), DESM; C.V. Shimray, Ruchi Verma (Associate
Professors, DESM); Ram Babu Pareek (Associate Professor, RIE Ajmer); A.K. Srivastava,
Rejaul Karim Barbhuiya, Pramila Tanwar (Assistant Professors, DESM); R.R. Koireng
(Assistant Professor, DCS); V. Tangpu (Assistant Professor, RIE Mysore) and Akhileshwar
Mishra (Head Master, DMS, RIE Bhubaneswar), in the review of this textbook in 2017-18
are acknowledged.
Special thanks are due to Hukum Singh, Professor and Former Head, DESM, NCERT,
New Delhi, for providing all academic and administrative support.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the support provided by the APC Office of
DESM, administrative staff of DESM; Deepak Kapoor, Incharge, Computer Station, DESM;
Saima and Arvind Sharma, DTP Operators and Rajesh Handa, Illustrator;
Mohd. Qamar Tabrez and Musarrat Parveen, Copy Editors; Seema Yadav, Proof Reader.
The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
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CONTENTS
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Chemical Reactions and Equations 1
Chapter 2 Acids, Bases and Salts 17
Chapter 3 Metals and Non-metals 37
Chapter 4 Carbon and its Compounds 58
Chapter 5 Life Processes 79
Chapter 6 Control and Coordination 100
Chapter 7 How do Organisms Reproduce? 113
Chapter 8 Heredity 128
Chapter 9 Light – Reflection and Refraction 134
Chapter 10 The Human Eye and the Colourful World 161
Chapter 11 Electricity 171
Chapter 12 Magnetic Effects of Electric Current 195
Chapter 13 Our Environment 208
Answers 218-219
CONTENTS
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WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA,
[SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC]
JUSTICE,
LIBERTY
EQUALITY
FRATERNITY
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO
OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
having
solemnly resolved to constitute India into a
and to secure
to all its citizens :
social, economic and
political;
of thought, expression, belief,
faith and worship;
of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
assuring the dignity of
the individual and the [unity and
integrity of the Nation];
this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949 do
1
2
1. Subs. by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, Sec.2,
for "Sovereign Democratic Republic" (w.e.f. 3.1.1977)
2. Subs. by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, Sec.2,
for "Unity of the Nation" (w.e.f. 3.1.1977)
THE CONSTITUTION OF
INDIA
PREAMBLE
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