UPSC Civil Services (Mains)
Chemistry optional
- 2 papers
- 250 marks each
- 3 h per paper
- 5 of 8 questions, Q1 and Q5 compulsory
Paper I covers physical and inorganic chemistry.
All years

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Paper I, physical and inorganic chemistry
Solution, 2020
UPSC Civil Services (Mains), Chemistry optional. 45 pages. All eight questions are answered.
Every question of 2020, one page each39 parts in 8 questions, with the question as text and its full model answer
Question 1 50 marks
Question 2 50 marks
Question 3 50 marks
Question 4 50 marks
- 4(a)LCAO; bonding, non-bonding and antibonding orbitals of H₂10 marks
- 4(b)Capillary action, contact angle and γ=12hρ gr10 marks
- 4(c)Does a KCl salt bridge eliminate the liquid junction?10 marks
- 4(d)Diamagnetic [Ni(CN)₄]²⁻ and paramagnetic [NiCl₄]²⁻10 marks
- 4(e)Why d–d transitions are forbidden, weak, and yet observed10 marks
Question 5 50 marks
- 5(a)Degeneracy of the hydrogenic level with E=-R_H/3610 marks
- 5(b)van der Waals constants of ethylene from T_c and p_c10 marks
- 5(c)Half-life of two parallel first-order reactions10 marks
- 5(d)Signs of Δ H, Δ S and Δ G for spontaneous adsorption10 marks
- 5(e)Decay routes of an electronically excited molecule: Jablonski diagram10 marks
Question 6 50 marks
- 6(a)cₘₚ, cₐᵥ, cᵣₘₛ on the Maxwell distribution curve10 marks
- 6(b)Coordination number of the cations in NaBr and KBr from radius ratios10 marks
- 6(c)Excess pressure inside a soap bubble10 marks
- 6(d)Maxwell relation (∂ S/∂ P)_T=-(∂ V/∂ T)_P from dG10 marks
- 6(e)Sulfur melts but iodine sublimes on heating in an open vessel10 marks
Question 7 50 marks
Question 8 50 marks












































