Sorry if it's old... I thought it was funny... The following is supposedly an actual BONUS question given on a university chemistry exam. 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. 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 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 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 Joani 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, Joani kept shouting "Oh my God." THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"
12/5/2005 5:05:33 PM
i've read this before except...
12/5/2005 5:07:42 PM
i think this was like the second thing that was ever on the internet
12/5/2005 5:19:01 PM
its new to me. funny shit
12/5/2005 5:23:13 PM
new to you?I don't see how this could be new to anyoneI got this email in like 1998 It was probably first written using Babbage's Analytical Engine
12/5/2005 5:25:03 PM
Heaven forbid someone spend enough time away from the internet to not see this forward.
12/5/2005 5:30:14 PM
12/5/2005 5:31:38 PM
http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.asp [Collected on the Internet, 1997]
12/5/2005 5:32:41 PM
I saw this in like the mid 90's. I'm not exaggerating.
12/5/2005 5:35:41 PM
hahhaaHAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY, STUPID EMAIL
12/5/2005 5:46:17 PM
1997
12/5/2005 5:51:59 PM
12/5/2005 6:07:54 PM
apparently you're NOT the ldywhoknows
12/5/2005 6:10:39 PM
first time I've seen it. Thanks for posting that.
12/5/2005 6:15:22 PM
12/5/2005 6:19:58 PM
yall are some elitist assholes. i knew this already, but it needed to be stated again
12/5/2005 6:39:34 PM
elitists...maybe.it's still old. good, but old.
12/5/2005 6:44:30 PM
http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/humor/felt like droping this one in
12/5/2005 6:46:41 PM
there is this other one about an english inclass assignment
12/5/2005 6:55:19 PM
it's new to me, but I actively avoid anything resembling an email forward/"true" anecdotes
12/5/2005 7:19:53 PM
http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/humor/1980s-kidsWTF, I was born in 1985 and over half of those don't apply.
12/5/2005 9:30:04 PM
yeah i was born in 78 and thats pretty much bullshit
12/5/2005 9:37:21 PM
[old]
12/5/2005 9:57:12 PM
12/5/2005 11:26:24 PM
alt.humor owns your dad's ass
12/5/2005 11:27:29 PM
i thought it was cute... i never got the e-mail either... nice break from the math hw
12/5/2005 11:34:52 PM
12/5/2005 11:53:37 PM