Hell: exothermic or endothermic?

[Sable]

This question was given to some grad students at UofO "Is Hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof." Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we postulate that if souls exist, they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls also must have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it does not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for souls entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some religions say 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 people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell.

With the birth and death rates what they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in the volume of Hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of the souls and volume needs to stay constant.

[A1] So, 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.

[A2] Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase in 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 Theresa Banyan during freshman year, that, "It'll be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and taking into account that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then [A2] cannot be true... thus, Hell is exothermic.

The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.
One of many sources. (http://csmres.jmu.edu/bioweb/bbb/hell.htm)



Found this a while back, thought I'd share. :)

[The Prophet]

That was a good one. It sounds like something I would write.

[DarkWolf]

Question: Is Hell Endothermic or Exothermic?

My Answer:

Neither.

Our souls are considered ethereal and generally mass-less. During a living state a person is said to have a soul - where is the soul? Despite many checking into the mass and trying to identify any additional mass as being relevant to an intangible source there has been no comfirmation or valid theories into suggesting our souls have mass when alive. On death there is no logic to a soul gaining mass upon leaving a body.

Because the soul itself has no mass then by laws of thermodynamics the soul would not be a variable in identifying whether Hell was endothermic or exothermic. Also a soul is a non-physical entity. Every variation of Hell suggests it can affect the soul. This means Hell must be of the same plane as the soul and so non-physical as well.

Thermodynamics is an appliance of Physics. For obvious reasons the terms, laws and applications of Physics cannot be applied to anything of a non-physical nature.

Thus Hell is neither endothermic or exothermic.

[Startraveler]

Well, proceeding from the assumption that the soul is not cursed to be forever shrouded in darkness (and I think that seems reasonable) we must then conclude that whatever it ultimately consists of has charge (that is, interacts electromagnetically--another way of saying it has anything at all to do with light).

And things with charge possess mass. So souls must have mass.

[Klark]

And that folks is how one effectively murders humor. :D

[Sable]

You know, I'm actually kind of glad that it sparked real discussion.
I'm thinking this would do just as good moved to science or religion.


Now I'm not too science minded, so forgive me if none of the below makes much sense. Right, going on Startraveler's argument:
So a thought, as an electrical charge fired by a nerve(or several) in the brain, has mass. If the soul is just imagination, then we give it weight through thought, same with hell. Kind of screws over religion in so many ways. Because you begin to wonder(unless you are unconditional/blindly devoted), do I give more weight to the collective thought that is god? Does a god exist because thought it allows it to gain mass and become tangible, however small, in the brain? Does the mass you give it in your brain gather like sediment in the bottom of a pond and muddy with others thoughts outside of the brain?
And, dun dun dun...Did humans create god?


I can see the advertisements now:
Hell, by you, for you!
Building Hell one thought at a time!
Our very foundation is built on the souls you provide us with!
Hell, torturing your mind to make our quota in the future!

[DarkWolf]

In response to StarTraveller:

I did not think of that. Actually that theory has been around for a while, a theory suggesting our soul is in fact a form of energy. Ghosts tend to occur when this energy charges particles in a right way to be seen or to move things. The only problem is this is hard to determine as true. Our bodies, of course, produce electricity (mostly in a chemical form or as small impulses along our nervous system) which means we would be unable to prove the soul as a field of energy around the body. When we die that charge dissipates and this can leave electric fields in the surrounding environment for a short while. New ghosts can never be considered provable.

But what about old ghosts? If a spirit is energy then an old ghost must still be that energy field (a ghost is nothing more than a spirit that hasn't "moved on" and lingers). Yet teams of parapsychologists have checked the sites of ghostly phenomenon for energy outputs and found none to indicate any unusual fields or collected enough data to rightfully prove this theory.

There's also the case of the fact that electromagnetic fields can produce hallucinations of alien abductions to ghosts because they affect a part of the brain that is responsive to magnetism. Due to the common link of the energy field but the randomness of the hallucinations/visions it seems implausible that energy can make you see real ghosts or interact with them. There isn't enough evidence to support spirits as energy then there is to support them as being something physical.

It's still something to think about though, :D.

In response to Sable:

Interesting thoughts. (pun not intended)

Would this also mean that if a large group of people all imagined the same object that it would be created out of their thoughts? Take a small hollow ball, a tiny one, that has so little weight only the very precise weighing scales would register it as having any. It has very little mass. Ask a lot of people to try the expiriment of willing another ball beside it. After a lot of willing, if indeed thoughts produce mass and can create things, should not all that willing and mass production (haha) actually create the other ball?

Doubtful. Yes thoughts may have mass, electric particles have mass, but barely any. So little, in fact, that you could fill a football stadium with thousands of people and have them all trying the above experiment and it still would not produce enough matter to be seen, not even under a microscope.

So the soul cannot have much mass, if it does have any, as it cannot even be detected and I wonder if even with billions of souls there, would such small amount of mass be worth factoring into thermodynamics? Even then you must consider Hell to: be real, be hot, and capable of afflicting pain to the spirits. Can anything do this to pure energy? Cause it pain? I doubt it. So for the concept of Hell to hold any valid point it must be of the same level, plane, or material as a spirit but also capable of bringing pain and heat/fire to that spirit.

I'm not a scientist so I'm probably wrong on most things.

However there is a way to answer without bothering with the use of spirits or anything:

The bible describes Hell as Fire & Brimstone, correct?

Well if it does then that tells you Hell must be exothermic (produces heat) because Brimstone aka Sulphur, has an exothermic reaction when heated.

Fire + Brimstone = Hotter Fire

:D

[Startraveler]

So a thought, as an electrical charge fired by a nerve(or several) in the brain, has mass. If the soul is just imagination, then we give it weight through thought, same with hell.

Well, the idea seems to be that the soul is something that can exist indepently of the body/brain. So it couldn't be simply a thought.

I did not think of that. Actually that theory has been around for a while, a theory suggesting our soul is in fact a form of energy. Ghosts tend to occur when this energy charges particles in a right way to be seen or to move things. The only problem is this is hard to determine as true.

Very hard indeed. But like I said, if we assume the soul can see the light then we must conclude that it consists of charged particles (say, electrons). And you can't have charge without having mass. So souls would need to have mass.

Our bodies, of course, produce electricity (mostly in a chemical form or as small impulses along our nervous system) which means we would be unable to prove the soul as a field of energy around the body. When we die that charge dissipates and this can leave electric fields in the surrounding environment for a short while.

What do you mean by "the soul as a field of energy"? Electricity itself is simply the flow of electrons. A single electron will generate an electric field--which is simply a way of describing how it will interact with another charged particle. Moving charges produce magnetic fields but that's the same deal. I'm not sure how much sense it would make to say a soul is a field like that.

[Wraywolf]

You all need lives.

...Said the furry.

[Klark]

Since it's effectively dead as humor, I'm moving ya'll to someplace special...:D

[Teej]

I like the first answer the most.

[DarkWolf]

Thank you Klark.

And StartTraveller, some good points. Sorry for using the terms incorrectly, I am not a scientist :) I like the subject, but I won't be reading any science magazines :D I know a little and that gets me through a bit.

[Firesong]

I had a Psych prof who once challenged his students to prove that "this chair" exists.

all the students used every scientific and psychological method they could think of to proove it

except one...whose whole essay consisted of just 2 words

"what chair?"

once again...the only A in the class!! :D

[DarkWolf]

That's an old one, and off-topic, Firesong. :)

[Startraveler]

I had a Psych prof who once challenged his students to prove that "this chair" exists.

all the students used every scientific and psychological method they could think of to proove it

except one...whose whole essay consisted of just 2 words

"what chair?"

once again...the only A in the class!! :D


It's a crime against humanity that a university can have the audacity to charge money for that.

Had I taken that class I'd want them to pay me. For wasting my fucking time. :)

Anyway, back on topic, whatever it may be.