The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term.
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 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 go out with you.", and take into account the fact
that I
still
have not succeeded in getting a date 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.