ATCHO: Thermodynamics

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1 total messages Started by Rune L�vlid Thu, 26 Mar 1998 00:00

#266

Author: Rune L�vlid
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 00:00

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

Is hell exothermic or endothermic? 
Support your answer with a proof. 

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, they must have some 
mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. 
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, 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 

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 in hell. 
Boyle's Lawstates 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. 

#1 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. 

#2 Of course, if hell is expanding at a rate faster than the 
increase of souls in hell, than the temperature and pressure 
will drop until hell freezes over. 

So which is it?  If we accept the postulate given me by 
Therese Banyan during Freshman year, and take into account 
the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual 
relations with her, then #2 cannot be true, and hell is 
exothermic. 
  

The student got the only A. 
-- 
"you're not me, therefore you're irrelevant" Dogbert
rlovlid@online no 
Visit the ATCHO joke pages.
http://home.sol.no/~rlovlid

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