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- Jan 26, 2002
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This may be a bit on the nerdy side, but I thought that some may find it amusing.
On the Thermodynamics of Hell
(author unknown)
From an anonymous but reliable source:
A thermodynamics professor wrote a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with a proof."
[To clarify, exothermic refers to a process that releases energy as it proceeds to a more stable state. Think of those heat packs where two things are mixed and heat is produced. Endothermic refers to a process that requires additional energy to proceed. Like a cold pack that sucks the heat from it's surroundings when two things are mixed. -f.]
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however wrote the following:
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First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass.
[For the curious, a mole of souls, or anything else for that matter is specific number ( happens to be about 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power or Avagadro's number) of them. This special quantity is particularly convenient for many applications for reasons which need not concern us here. Dunno where the name came from. -f.]
So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls 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 souls entering hell, let's 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 people do not belong to more than 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 in volume of hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.
So, 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.
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.
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It was not revealed what grade the student got.
On the Thermodynamics of Hell
(author unknown)
From an anonymous but reliable source:
A thermodynamics professor wrote a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with a proof."
[To clarify, exothermic refers to a process that releases energy as it proceeds to a more stable state. Think of those heat packs where two things are mixed and heat is produced. Endothermic refers to a process that requires additional energy to proceed. Like a cold pack that sucks the heat from it's surroundings when two things are mixed. -f.]
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however wrote the following:
--------------
First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass.
[For the curious, a mole of souls, or anything else for that matter is specific number ( happens to be about 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power or Avagadro's number) of them. This special quantity is particularly convenient for many applications for reasons which need not concern us here. Dunno where the name came from. -f.]
So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls 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 souls entering hell, let's 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 people do not belong to more than 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 in volume of hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.
So, 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.
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.
-------------
It was not revealed what grade the student got.