Tuesday 26 August 2008

Proof that Hell is exothermic

I have just read this in a book and it made me laugh so I hope you will like it.
This was a question in a University of Washington chemistry exam.
"Is hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat) ?
Most students wrote about Boyle's Law: Gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed. However one student wrote this:-
" 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 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, lets 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 then one of these religions and since people do not belong to more then 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 2 possibilities: (1) If Hell is expanding at a slower rate then 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 then 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 will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you!" and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then (2) cannot be true and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic"

This student recieved the only A.

1 comment:

sonia said...

Absolutely wonderful. He deserves an 'A'* for humour.