Dante's hell was composed of several circles and as we all know, any circle
accompanied by that sinking feeling is usually accompanied by a muttered "oh
hell!" A prolonged descent to the nether regions usually results in glider
pilot hell; an outlanding in a muddy field, possibly with a pitchfork-armed
farmer doing an impersonation of the devil.

David Starer


"01-- Zero One" wrote in message
...
All of the recent posts about hell got me to thinking about the possible
strength of thermals in hell.



If hell is infinitely hot, even with the eventual melting and
disintegration of the glider, would we not be able to climb fast enough to
escape hell (another example of a 'low save').





So anyway, I got to thinking about the old chemistry joke that most of you
have read befo





vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv



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 when it expands and heats 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 at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at
which 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 is
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 deathrates 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 vo lume of Hell has to expand
proportionately 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. 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 Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in
Hell before I sleep with you, and take into account the fact that I slept
with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that
Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this
theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not
accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven,
thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last
night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."