JEE Main · Physics · Gravitation

Gravitational Potential: JEE Main previous year questions

Name: Gravitational Potential: JEE Main previous year questions
Creator: Lumi

23 questions in the 108 JEE Main shifts Lumi analysed, in 7 of 8 years. Pattern: Asked most years. 5 came in 2024–26. Here is how it is asked and which ideas come back.

Questions: 23; in 22 of 108 shifts
Years asked: 7/8; last asked 2026
Chance in a shift: 19%; calibrated model, how we compute it
Weighted estimate: 0.2; model; history: 0.2 a shift on average, typically 0.1–0.3

Key findings

01
Asked in 7 of 8 years with analysed shifts and in 22 of 108 shifts: 23 questions, #130 of 196 topics.
02
48% of its questions since 2020 tested an idea no earlier year had asked; 9 repeated an idea from the year before.
03
The most repeated idea is Escape Velocity and Potential Relation, asked 8 times in 8 shifts (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026), most often as “speed and energy falling from infinity”.
04
JEE Main has asked 10 of the 55 ideas in this topic; 39 have never been asked, directly or inside another question.
05
Mostly asked as single correct (65%); 22% need a numerical answer, 30% are easy and 9% hard.
06
The skill tested most is calculation (57%), then multi-step (22%).

Questions a shift, year by year

Out of the 25 Physics questions in a shift. Years differ in how many shifts Lumi analysed, so each year is scaled to one shift.

Raw count: 2017: 0 in 1 shift · 2020: 3 in 12 shifts · 2021: 9 in 24 shifts · 2022: 3 in 24 shifts · 2023: 3 in 12 shifts · 2024: 2 in 18 shifts · 2025: 1 in 8 shifts · 2026: 2 in 9 shifts.

Up to 2023: 0.2; a shift, of 25
Since 2024: 0.1; 0.0
Usual gap: 1.0 yrs; between years asking it
Shifts with it: 22/108; 20% of analysed shifts

How it is asked

Difficulty, format and skill

Across all 23 questions on Gravitational Potential since 2017.

Difficulty

QUESTIONS

714

Easy7 · 30%
Medium14 · 61%
Hard2 · 9%

Format

Single correct · 15 Q65%
Numerical value · 5 Q22%
Other · 1 Q4%
Assertion–reason · 1 Q4%
Diagram based · 1 Q4%

Skill tested

Calculation · 13 Q57%
Multi-step · 5 Q22%
Conceptual · 4 Q17%
Application · 1 Q4%

Repeats

New idea, or one asked before?

Each column is a year. Blue questions tested an idea no earlier year had asked; navy ones went back to an idea from an earlier year. 2017 is the first year, so everything in it counts as new. Heights are question counts, and Lumi analysed 1 to 24 shifts a year, so compare the split inside a column rather than heights across years.

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

Idea asked for the first time
Idea asked in an earlier year

Coverage of the topic

JEE Main has asked 10 of the 55 ideas in this topic. 39 have never been asked yet.

10639

Asked directly10 · 18%
Touched inside another question6 · 11%
Never asked39 · 71%

Ideas come from Lumi’s JEE syllabus map. A never-asked idea is not a safe skip: across all of JEE Main, 22% of questions since 2024 tested an idea no earlier year had asked.

Drill down

Idea, year, question

Every idea JEE Main tested in this topic, with its eight years. Open one to read the questions.

ideaAskedShareYears’17’20’21’22’23’24’25’26

OpenRepeated8 · 35%35%6/83
- 2 Apr ’26 S2 · Q31
  If a body of mass 1 kg falls on the earth from infinity, it attains velocity (v) and kinetic energy (k) on reaching the surface of earth.…
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 4 Apr ’25 S2 · Q29
  An object is kept at rest at a distance of 3R above the earth's surface where R is earth's radius. The minimum speed with which it must be…
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 6 Apr ’24 S1 · Q33
  To project a body of mass m from earth's surface to infinity, the required kinetic energy is (assume, the radius of earth is $R_E$ , g =…
  easySingle correctAsked the year before
- 13 Apr ’23 S1 · Q36
  A planet having mass 9 Me and radius $4R_e$ , where Me and Re are mass and radius of earth respectively, has escape velocity in km/s given…
  easySingle correct
- 31 Aug ’21 S1 · Q17
  The masses and radii of the earth and moon are ( $M_1$ , $R_1$ ) and ( $M_2$ , $R_2$ ) respectively. Their centres are at a distance 'r' apart.…
  mediumSingle correctAsked the year before
- 25 Feb ’21 S1 · Q1
  Given below are two statements : one is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R. Assertion A : The escape velocities…
  easyAssertion–reasonAsked the year before
- 17 Mar ’21 S1 · Q26
  The radius in kilometer to which the present radius of earth (R = 6400 km) to be compressed so that the escape velocity is increased 10…
  easyNumerical valueAsked the year before
- 8 Jan ’20 S2 · Q22
  An asteroid is moving directly towards the centre of the earth. When at a distance of 10 R (R is the radius of the earth) from the earths…
  mediumNumerical valueNew idea
OpenRepeated3 · 13%13%3/8
OpenRepeated2 · 9%9%2/8
OpenRepeated2 · 9%9%2/8
Open2 · 9%9%1/82
OpenRepeated2 · 9%9%2/8
Open1 · 4%4%1/8
Open1 · 4%4%1/8
Open1 · 4%4%1/8
Open1 · 4%4%1/8

Squares are the 8 years with analysed shifts, 2017 to 2026. A number is the questions that year when there is more than one; the shade is scaled to one shift, so a year with more analysed shifts (1 to 24 a year) does not look darker. Share is of the level above.

Ideas

Every idea inside this topic

10 different ideas were tested; 6 came more than once.

Escape Velocity and Potential Relation8×
speed and energy falling from infinity
Single correct · 8 shifts · 2 numerical
Exact Potential Energy Change at Large Heights3×
potential energy change at height
Single correct · 3 shifts
Potential-Field Relation2×
height from potential and g
Single correct · 2 shifts
Maximum Height Using Exact Potential2×
maximum height at fraction of escape velocity
Numerical value · 2 shifts · 1 numerical
Potential Energy of Systems2×
total potential energy of point-mass system
Numerical value · 2 shifts · 1 numerical
Potential of Spherical Shell2×
potential inside shell with central mass
Other · 2 shifts
Potential of Solid Sphere1×
gravitational potential at centre vs surface of sphere
Single correct · 1 shift
Gravitational Binding Energy1×
gravitational binding energy of sphere
Numerical value · 1 shift · 1 numerical
Potential Inside a Spherical Cavity1×
ratio of force before and after cavity
Diagram based · 1 shift
Potential at the Neutral Point1×
minimum firing speed between two planets
Single correct · 1 shift

Idea	Times	Shifts	Format	Numerical
Escape Velocity and Potential Relationspeed and energy falling from infinity	8	8	Single correctCalculation	2
Exact Potential Energy Change at Large Heightspotential energy change at height	3	3	Single correctCalculation	–
Potential-Field Relationheight from potential and g	2	2	Single correctCalculation	–
Maximum Height Using Exact Potentialmaximum height at fraction of escape velocity	2	2	Numerical valueCalculation	1
Potential Energy of Systemstotal potential energy of point-mass system	2	2	Numerical valueMulti-step	1
Potential of Spherical Shellpotential inside shell with central mass	2	2	OtherCalculation	–
Potential of Solid Spheregravitational potential at centre vs surface of sphere	1	1	Single correctConceptual	–
Gravitational Binding Energygravitational binding energy of sphere	1	1	Numerical valueCalculation	1
Potential Inside a Spherical Cavityratio of force before and after cavity	1	1	Diagram basedApplication	–
Potential at the Neutral Pointminimum firing speed between two planets	1	1	Single correctMulti-step	–

Times and shifts count every analysed shift. Across JEE Main, 78% of questions since 2024 went back to an idea an earlier year had asked; the rest were new. All repeated ideas

Every question

Gravitational Potential questions, year by year

The opening words of each question as it appeared in the official paper, with the idea it tested. Open one for its options and the official answer.

Questions from the official JEE Main Paper 1 shifts published by NTA (CBSE for 2017). Questions NTA dropped are left out. Topic and idea tags, counts and notes are Lumi’s.

Key findings

Questions a shift, year by year

Difficulty, format and skill

Difficulty

Format

Skill tested

New idea, or one asked before?

Coverage of the topic

Idea, year, question

Every idea inside this topic

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