The following is an
actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term.
The answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased...
Bonus Question:
Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the
students wroteThe answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased...
Bonus Question:
Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
Boyle's law (sometimes referred to as
the Boyle-Mariotte law) is one of many gas laws and a special case of the ideal
gas law. Boyle's law describes the inversely proportional relationship between
the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant
within a closed system.
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 us 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?
I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze."
This student received the only A.
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