I am continually amazed that this one keeps resurfacing year after year! All
that changes is the school where it supposedly happened!
The first time I heard it was from my grandfather, and he said that it
happened at the University of North Carolina when he was a student. He
graduated in 1914!
Joe Hankins
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Griffing" <bartdog@mindspring.com>
To: <alpines@autox.team.net>; "tigers" <tigers@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2000 4:10 PM
Subject: Fw: Thermodynamics of hell.....
>
> I firure the Engineers in the group will appreciate this one. If you have
> totally lost your sense of humor, please hit delete now.
> v
> v
> v
> v
> > > The following is an actual question given on a University of
Washington
> > > chemistry mid term. 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 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, 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 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. 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. Teresa Banyan
> > > 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 still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her,
> > > then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic
> > > and will not freeze..
> > >
> > > The student received the only "A" given.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --------- End forwarded message ----------
>
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