Thermodynamics of Hell

[CalinBisou]

I read this a long time ago and it cracked me up. I hope you guys like it. I have edited a phrase or 2 at the end because I deem those to be inappropriate language. My change is in [brackets].

Overall, very funny and TRUE story! Enjoy


Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic??

The following is an actual question given on a McGill University chemistry mid-term Exam paper:

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 Boyles 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 most people and their 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.

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.


So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Celine LeBlanc during my Freshman year - that "it will be a cold night in Hell before I [go out] with you" - and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in [dating] her, then (2) cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic.



The student got the only A!

[dosescud]

hahaha ya i read this before... its funny

[skylineGTR_guy]

Oh thats great! I'm printing that out and giving it to my chem teacher

[sYphon]

lol thats not great, its hilarious!!!

[Pull and Twist]

I admit it is amusing.

But this question was never actually given in a Chem class, it originated from a humor website.

[CalinBisou]

hahaha. glad you guys enjoyed it.

Actually, PullandTwist, it is a true story.

"Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam question for May of 1997. Dr. Schambaugh is known for asking questions such as, "why do airplanes fly?" on his final exams. His one and only final exam question in May 1997 for his Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II class was: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof." "

I looked the professor up and he does indeed exist.

It is not uncommon for a professor to give one question on his final exam. I've had that done to me before as well. So I seriously doubt they would lie about something like this. This story is known to all chemists, quite popular.

[Jsusfrk4life]

FRom Pull and Twist:: I admit it is amusing.

But this question was never actually given in a Chem class, it originated from a humor website.

o. lol hehe i dont think this would be a real question cause all my jewish friends that i have DONT believe in Hell. so it would be very hard for them on the test. lol but this story/answer was a little funny and a little confusing at some parts....(im blond-lol hehe)
~Lea~

[Jsusfrk4life]

o. then thats intresting pull and twist. what a hard question... i would just say its exothermic (gives off heat) but not have a reason....

[Pull and Twist]

Where did you get that information CalinBisou?

Regardless, the name you gave is spelled incorrectly, but there is someone by his name at the mentioned university.

I have emailed him inquiring to this story and we shall shortly know whether it has any merit to it.

[CalinBisou]

Originally Posted by Pull and Twist

Where did you get that information CalinBisou?

Regardless, the name you gave is spelled incorrectly, but there is someone by his name at the mentioned university.

I have emailed him inquiring to this story and we shall shortly know whether it has any merit to it.

Spelled incorrectly?? Hm, I thought I spelled it right. the info i got came with the story i posted.

hahaha, wow, you really want to find out. Kudos to you. I guess it would be good to find out once and for all.

either way, it is humorous.

[Pull and Twist]

No, you did spell it correctly according to the story, I did a search and that's how it's spelled by most if not all the retellings of this tale on various sites.

Ofcourse, it's differently spelled on University of Oklahoma.

I've noticed another discrepency in all the retellings, they all intro themselves as exams found in Shambaughs class while the actual story claims that the exam took place at McGill University, the version posted by you does the same.

Ofcourse, working for both the HS and College newspaper has thought me to be skeptic about these kind of issues, hopefully I'll find out soon enough and put this to rest, atleast within the RoYouth community.

[SaintJoe69]

Originally Posted by Pull and Twist

No, you did spell it correctly according to the story, I did a search and that's how it's spelled by most if not all the retellings of this tale on various sites.

Ofcourse, it's differently spelled on University of Oklahoma.

I've noticed another discrepency in all the retellings, they all intro themselves as exams found in Shambaughs class while the actual story claims that the exam took place at McGill University, the version posted by you does the same.

Ofcourse, working for both the HS and College newspaper has thought me to be skeptic about these kind of issues, hopefully I'll find out soon enough and put this to rest, atleast within the RoYouth community.

So, you are kind of like Chloe from Smallville, eh?

[CalinBisou]

Originally Posted by SaintJoe69

So, you are kind of like Chloe from Smallville, eh?

hahahahaha. funny stuff.

But yes, thanks for looking out at that. I too saw that some posted that it was from McGill but when I looked for it, I really couldn't find anything. Many profs post their old exams on their webpage for students to study off of so I was hoping I could find it on their website but was unsuccessful.

[Pull and Twist]

Originally Posted by SaintJoe69

So, you are kind of like Chloe from Smallville, eh?

Lol, minus the wall of wierd and the whole entire female thing.

[Luscious]

interesting stuff. didn't humor me though. oh well. maybe next time:p

[Pull and Twist]

And finally to put this legend to rest, from the teacher credited with this question, here is his reply (in exact words);

"Mr. Neamtiu,

Yes, I do teach a course with this title, and I have asked questions
such as "why do airplanes fly". But, I never asked this exam question.
I suspect that one of my former students began this legend.

Best Regards,

Robert L. Shambaugh"

[CalinBisou]

Originally Posted by Pull and Twist

And finally to put this legend to rest, from the teacher credited with this question, here is his reply (in exact words);

"Mr. Neamtiu,

Yes, I do teach a course with this title, and I have asked questions
such as "why do airplanes fly". But, I never asked this exam question.
I suspect that one of my former students began this legend.

Best Regards,

Robert L. Shambaugh"

Thank you. well how wrong of someone to fib.

[SaintJoe69]

Originally Posted by Pull and Twist

And finally to put this legend to rest, from the teacher credited with this question, here is his reply (in exact words);

"Mr. Neamtiu,

Yes, I do teach a course with this title, and I have asked questions
such as "why do airplanes fly". But, I never asked this exam question.
I suspect that one of my former students began this legend.

Best Regards,

Robert L. Shambaugh"

Thanks, Chloe, but I still blame it on those mysterious green pieces of rock fragment that we keep finding around the town.

[<Matt>]

A thermodynamics professor had written atake 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 go out with you, and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having a relationship with her, then #2 cannot be true, and so Hell is exothermic.

The student got the only A.

[third_day]

that is...interesing. ummm...i always thought that Hell is HoT.
but all we know about it is what the Bible says about it.