Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/24

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] HOw hot is it?
From: "Gary D. Whalen" <whalen@circle.net>
Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1999 21:03:52 -0500

 How Hot Is It?  -  A True Story

 A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his
graduate
 students. It had one question:

 "Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
 Support your answer with a proof."

 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, 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 since 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 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. Therese Banyan during my Freshman year, "That it will be a cold
night
 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 so Hell is exothermic.

 The student got the only A.