Actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry
midterm
"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.
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. Most 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:
-
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. 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.