发信人: navi(ivan)
整理人: fredrink(2001-02-12 13:35:18), 站内信件
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HOW HOT IS IT IN HELL? A true story.
A thermodynamics professor had written a take-home exam for his
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 date you", and take into account the fact that I still
have not succeeded in having dated her, then number 2 cannot be true,
and so Hell is exothermic.
The student got the only A.
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风回小院庭芜绿，柳眼春相续。
凭阑半日独无言，
依旧竹声新月似当年。
笙歌未散尊前在，池面冰初解。
烛明香暗画楼深，
满鬓清霜残雪思难任。
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