mrk Reviews Posted July 22, 2003 Reviews Share Posted July 22, 2003 This one requires a bit more thinking so for many of you it will fly in one eye and excrete from your erm.....well :laugh: (btw that was just messing about up there :ninja) Dr. Schlambaugh, a senior lecturer at the Chemical Engineering Department,University of Oklahoma, is known for posing questions on final exams like: "Why do airplanes fly?" In May a few years ago, the "Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer " exam paper contained the question: "Is Hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof." Most students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or similar. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we must postulate that if souls exist, they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls also must have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it does 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 religions say 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 the birth and death rates what they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in the 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 the souls and volume needs to stay constant. [Answer 1] So, if Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. [Answer 2] Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase in 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 Banyan during freshman year) that "it'll be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you", and taking into account that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then [Answer 2] cannot be correct; ...... thus, Hell is exothermic. The student got the only A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhangm Supervisor Posted July 22, 2003 Supervisor Share Posted July 22, 2003 Believe it or not, this has been posted here before... The first lines were different... 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). One student wrote the following answer: <insert rest of joke> Funny eh, two professors, in different states...asking the same question... And two of their students give identical answers... :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrk Reviews Posted July 22, 2003 Author Reviews Share Posted July 22, 2003 heh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samoa Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Is hell exothermic? I don't know how your house is heated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pctuk Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Well, if anyone is interested in the whole history of the little anecdote.... http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.htm :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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