And so I'd talk about stepping out of a shower, or getting out of a pool, even on a very hot day...there's that coolness you immediately feel. Same thing when you wipe your face and neck with a wet towel to cool off a little bit, and the real purpose of our sweat glands...
Evaporation.
Good ol' water-into-vapor is a basic chemical equation in which heat is an 'input' into the equation and consumed, not given off/produced. The fancier word for that is "endothermic"...and if heat were produced, an 'output', like the burning of wood, that reaction is "exothermic". The prefixes tell it all, endo- and exo-, and thermic is self-explanatory.
And so it is a mass e-mail just came my way, and one I've seen before and you may have, as well. Snopes.com said it's a true story, pulled from the internet in 1997. The original story isn't quite as detailed as this one, and supposedly no grade was listed...at any rate, I'm posting the 'tweaked' version as it's really cute...although there is technical error some may catch...
Enjoy the chuckle, regardless!
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Hell – As Explained By a Chemistry Student
Note: The following is an actual question given on a
University of Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by
one student was so profound that the professor shared it
with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why
we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:
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 the
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:
"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.. 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
Stephenson 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!'"
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.
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