Hell

[karohemd]

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.

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."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"

Comments

[sparksoflight.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic!! I love it!

[vilenspotens.livejournal.com]

absolutely brilliant!

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

He didn't answer the question.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

There's a much older version that did the rounds in 1999 or so in which the question was answered. I think at some point someone tried to make it funnier and sodomised the actual 'physics exam question' aspect of it in the process.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

the snopes article (see Will's link below) seems to confirm that.
Still, true or not, it's funny.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

He said it was exothermic!

[morgenstern23.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, brilliant! :-)

Not exactly debunked, but....

[will-sample.livejournal.com]

http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.asp