A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question:
"Is ##### 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 ##### is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into ##### and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to #####, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering #####, 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 #####. 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 #####. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in ##### to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in ##### because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in ##### to stay the same, the volume of ##### has to expand as souls are added.This gives two possibilities:
1. If ##### is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter #####, then the temperature and pressure in ##### will increase until all ##### breaks loose.
2. Of course, if ##### is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in #####, then the temperature and pressure will drop until ##### 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 ##### before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in cultivating her favors, then 2 cannot be true, and so ##### is exothermic."
This student got the only A.
"Is ##### 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 ##### is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into ##### and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to #####, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering #####, 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 #####. 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 #####. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in ##### to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in ##### because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in ##### to stay the same, the volume of ##### has to expand as souls are added.This gives two possibilities:
1. If ##### is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter #####, then the temperature and pressure in ##### will increase until all ##### breaks loose.
2. Of course, if ##### is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in #####, then the temperature and pressure will drop until ##### 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 ##### before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in cultivating her favors, then 2 cannot be true, and so ##### is exothermic."
This student got the only A.