A Thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question:
"Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with 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 of souls that are moving into Hell and the rate that they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it does not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for the souls entering Hell, let's look at the different religions 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 is 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 the birth rates and death rates what they are, we can project that the souls entering Hell will increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume of 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, then the temperature and pressure will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
#2 Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls into 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 Bayan 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 have still not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then #2 cannot be true.
So Hell is exothermic.
The student got the only A.
http://www.fredlet.com/funny/hell.htm