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Is Hell endothermic or exothermic?

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Just read this essay on hell:

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term.

The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. < /P>

This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THE STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

I think this student deserves more than an A+!

Weird brain testlJust gotta check this out!!

Comments

SamDoolie Monday, October 22, 2007 9:09:24 AM

Forgive me for coming across like this. But that is a dumb question, why would you want to try and figure that out? I dont undestand why would people need to work that out?

LeoLeo_the_One Monday, October 22, 2007 12:08:11 PM

I agree with you. The proffesors who set the test should expect answers of this kind. I heard of this instance, where the students (of Philosophy) were asked "Is this a question?". One of the students answered "Is this an answer?". Anyway, I think they were just trying to see how their pupils think.

SamDoolie Monday, October 22, 2007 6:32:09 PM

I see what your saying. And it makes sense. But yeah very strange. The guy did well at answering that tho.

theghostsofgiants Tuesday, April 8, 2008 8:27:50 PM

Haha, awesome. It's actually a trick question, though: Hell doesn't exist.

LeoLeo_the_One Monday, April 14, 2008 9:45:37 AM

@theghostofgiants: Yes, I probably would have answered the same as you.

KShaofanges Saturday, January 9, 2010 4:58:03 AM

mistake! in order to make it funnier, the last paragraph was altered! If hell was exothermic (releasing heat), it wouldn't be frozen over at all. The person should have changed it to endothermic. If you want to change something to make it funnier, at least make it so it seems like the original

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