This answer to a college chemistry exam was sent to me recently and restores my faith in the new generation of college students. The answer was purportedly in response to the bonus question on a University of Arizona chemistry midterm: “Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?”
Here is the student’s answer:
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, which is unlikely. 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.’
The student reportedly received a well-deserved A+
However, I still prefer the Simpson version of Hell . . .
UPDATE: The answer is reportedly not from a student, but it has been augmented, here.
Kudos: Phil Kroner
Hey! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted
to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading your blog posts.
Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with
the same subjects? Appreciate it!
Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just your articles?
I mean, what you say is valuable and all. Nevertheless just imagine if you added some great images
or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”!
Your content is excellent but with images and videos, this site could undeniably be
one of the very best in its field. Excellent blog!
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is magnificent, as well as
the content!
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog.
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog
like this one nowadays.
Wow, this piece of writing is nice, my younger sister is analyzing such
things, thus I am going to inform her.
I always used to study article in news papers but now as I am a user of internet thus from now I am using net for
articles or reviews, thanks to web.
Hey there! Quick question that’s entirely off topic.
Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My website looks weird when browsing from my iphone4.
I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to correct this issue.
If you have any suggestions, please share. Thank you!