I just had to share this with y'all.
> --- How Hot Is It In Hell - A True Story ---
>
> A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his
> graduate students. It had one question:
>
> "Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
> Support your answer with a proof."
>
> Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law
> (gas cools off when it expands and heats up 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 that souls are moving into Hell and the
> rate 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. Some of these religions
> state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to
> Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people
> do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all
> people and 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 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 Of course, 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 Ms.
> Therese Banyan during my Freshman year, "That it will be a cold night in
> Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I
> still have not succeeded, then #2 cannot be true, and so
> Hell is exothermic.
>
> The student got the only A.
Regards,
Alan Lott
1971 MGB
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