Hell freezing over
I thought this was funny
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 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 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:
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.
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 two 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."
7 Answers
Very nice, Ian.
And to the student:
OMG, as in "What was I thinking?"
Wonderfully fabulously funny Ian! I love it!
Hmmm... well, Texas saw alot of snow about a year ago... I think that would be about the closest to hell freezing over. 
(There's actually a dude named Lucifer living here) 
This 'science' is not about hell absorbing or giving off heat.
The boundaries of hell are impermeable, so the expansion or contraction of hell occurs in adiabatic conditions, regardless of temperature increase or decrease.
The only heat transfer mechanism available is that of bodies entering hell. Presumably, bodies entering hell are colder than hell (with a few possible exceptions 
)
I would like to know if the Gibbs Free Energy is increasing or decreasing, because that defines the amount of useful work that can be generated by hell, which of course, represents the Devil's work. 
I love the story, too bad Boyle's law is only true is temperature remains constants.
Regardless, its still funny. Good one 
I have so many funny (but inappropriate) things i'd like to say here... but i'll refrain. 
Not many responses to this - fair enough.
But if hell has frozen over and no longer exists - can there be a heaven?
