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
According to Snopes, this is not an exam question. The original was written by scientist Paule Darwin Foote as a humour piece in 1920. But not surprisingly, the bits at the end about sleeping with Theresa are more recent additions!
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.asp
I do so love a good physics joke.
Snopes shatters the Prof’s restored faith.
I favor explanation #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.”
It explains global warming and puts the blame squarely on all the religions in the world. Works for me.
…on a sadder note from the Hell zone…the gigantomundous oil spill in the Gulf is threatening Louisiana’s coastal wildlife preserve and will be set on fire later today in the hopes of mitigating the destruction. I am so not looking forward to the smoke and acrid smell…
Professor and Blouise, Thanks for my LOL moment of the day; excellent posting and response.
There is also a great physics piece from the early 70′s “Journal of irreproducible science” laying out the case that heaven is much hotter than hell.
I don’t recall the details but its along the lines of “hell is molten sulfur and brimstone which produces some known temp and the bible claims heaven shines with the light of 7 suns so the temp can be computed”.
Woosty’s still a Cat, I heard that too. One of the guest commentators on a TVNews show last night asked, in effect, how we can build a policy to do more off-shore drilling saying we have the technology and know-how when we admittedly don’t have the technology and know-how to even clean up this mess in a timely manner?
This couldn’t have happened at a better time though, there’s still time for Obama to reverse his policy decision.
Woosty’s still a Cat, This may be good news though.
“First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Gets Government OK”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126363616&ft=1&f=1001
In just the last couple of days in response to the well explosion I was thinking that it would be a good time to break the political log-jam and get these turbines built.
I first heard this story (including the Theresa bit) over a decade ago – along with the story about the philosophy final where the only question was ‘Why?’ and the only two students who got an A answered ‘Why not?’ and ‘Because’.
frankdawg,
I believe that you are referring to ‘The Journal of Irreproducible Results’ which is my favorite (un)scientific journal. I vaguely recall the article you’re talking about, but couldn’t find it in either of my collections. On the metaphysical front, I like ‘The learning of a simple maze habit by angels’. My goal as a scientist is to someday be published in this august journal…
http://www.jir.com/
lottakatz,
One of the things that I most like about President Obama is his careful consideration of the facts and consultation with experts before he makes a decision. I would be most disappointed if he does not at least reconsider the decision on offshore drilling in light of this disaster.
Here’s a humorous peek at hell:
Buddha,
I once had a massive text file of ‘Mathematican, Physicist, Engineer’ jokes – if I can dig it up, I’ll send it to you – but here’s a taste:
Several professors were asked to solve the following problem: “Prove that all odd integers are prime.”
Mathematician: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is not a prime – counter-example – claim is false.
Physicist: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is an experimental error, 11 is a prime …
Engineer: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is a prime, 11 is a prime …
Computer Scientist: 3′s a prime, 5′s a prime, 7′s a prime … segmentation fault
Lawyers: one is prime, three is prime, five is prime, seven is prime, although there appears to be prima facie evidence that nine is not prime, there exists substantial precedent to indicate that nine should be considered prime. The following brief presents the case for nine’s primeness…
Liberals: The fact that nine is not prime indicates a deprived cultural environment which can only be remedied by a federally funded cultural enrichment program.
Computer programmers: one is prime, three is prime, five is prime, five is prime, five is prime, five is prime five is prime, five is prime, five is prime…
or
Professor: 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, and the rest are left as an exercise for the student.
Linguist: 3 is an odd prime, 5 is an odd prime, 7 is an odd prime, 9 is a very odd prime,…
Computer Scientist: 10 prime, 11 prime, 101 prime…
Chemist: 1 prime, 3 prime, 5 prime… hey, let’s publish!
New Yorker: 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is… NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!
Programmer: 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 will be fixed in the next release,…
Salesperson: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 — let me make you a deal…
Advertiser: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 11 is a prime,…
Accountant: 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is prime, deducting 10% tax and 5% other obligations.
Statistician: Let’s try several randomly chosen numbers: 17 is a prime, 23 is a prime, 11 is a prime… Looks good to me.
Psychologist: 3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is a prime but tries to suppress it…
More can be found at:
http://www.phy.ilstu.edu/~rfm/107F07/EPMjokes.html
I particularly like the ‘Metajoke’…
i hate to undermine prof turley’s faith in the current college student, but im going to have to do so. that question and answer has been floating around the ‘net since hector was a pup. (for you all in rio linda, that means it is a set up).
i think i even heard it on the “car talk” radio show a while back…
The Professor covered his backside by using the word “purportedly” before repeating the story.
Elaine,
A poem for you:
(12 + 144 + 20 + (3 * 4^(1/2))) / 7) + (5 * 11) = 9^2 + 0
A Dozen, a Gross and a Score,
plus three times the square root of four,
divided by seven,
plus five times eleven,
equals nine squared and not a bit more.
(I didn’t write it, but I thought that you would appreciate it…)
Slartibartfast–
Thanks. I love limericks!
Here are a few more for you. They aren’t original.
There was a young woman named Bright
Whose speed was far faster than light.
She set out one day
In a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.
*****
A tutor who tooted a flute,
Tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
Said the two to the tutor,
“Is it harder to toot, or
To tutor two tooters to toot?”
*****
There once was a lady from Ryde
Who ate some green apples and died.
The apples fermented
Inside the lamented
And made cider inside her insides.
*****
There was an old man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter named Nan
Ran away with a man…
And as fot the bucket? Nantucket!
*****
There once was a couple named Kelly
Who went through life belly to belly
Because in their haste
They used library paste
Instead of petroleum jelly.
What a stupid question, hell is adiabatic.
Great joke (and site link) and limericks, thanks Slartibartfast and Elaine for starting my morning off on a humorous note.
The Bobs:
No idea what “adiabatic” means, but I do know Hell has a helluva road system:
Mespo,
Per Wikipedia:
This discounts the transfer of souls into hell (presumably there is no transfer OUT of hell) which, in my mind, makes the professor’s answer better.
lottakatz,
You’re welcome.
Correction: In my first post on this thread I said I had seen this before, but I had jumped to that conclusion before reading thoroughly – the version I saw years ago said that hell was exothermic (the author had NOT slept with Teresa).
@Elaine M.- I appreciate Rowan Atkinson’s bit, but I think hell would be more like Sartre’s short story, “No Exit,” where people of entirely different vices get on each others nerves for eternity. —-Sort of like my job. ;->
I appreciate this humor whether plagiarism or not.
Exo, Endo, matters not…
that kind of heat
should not be sought!
Gotta love people who believe everything they get sent by e-mail.
I’d argue that it had to be isothermic, otherwise some clever engineering might use the heat difference to cool another part of it down by making some type of engine, and we all know hell can’t be cold.
Another engineer….
I’m told all the screws in Hell are straight head and all the screwdrivers Philips head.
It is supposed to be Hell after all. Or in the words of Gary Larson, “Welcome to Heaven. Here’s your harp./Welcome to Hell. Here’s your accordion.”
But souls have no mass or volume…
Boyles’ law only applies at constant temperature. A ‘location’ can not be endothermic or exothermic, only a ‘process’ can be that. Conclusion: nor the student nor the professor knows jack shit about chemistry. Therefore this story is a hoax and thus not funny and certainly not brilliant.
There was once a defendant named Rex,
accused of exposing his sex.
But he was acquitted,
the reason submitted:
De minimus non curat lex.
Maarten — and besides, you didn’t even LIKE it.
These patterns are not actually invented inside
the 60′s, but not everything was about the psychedelics either. Usually do not fear, for interior design nirvana is obtainable at a price you can afford. Do not be afraid of color!
What on earth is a solid blog web site with very good designs?
According to theory , expansion of real gases is endothermic so has some one got endothermic and exothermic mixed up in the end of this tale !
Since a soul has no mass, no mobility, no fixed location in space/time, none of this is relevant.