It's been a while......

David Van Wickler

We all need to look at the next troubleshoot like this young creative mind did.

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 **** exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic
(absorbs heat)?
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. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of
their religion, you will go to ****. 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 ****.
"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 proportionately 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) 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 Teresa during my Freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in **** before I sleep with you", and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having an affair with her, then #2 above cannot be true, and thus I am sure that **** is exothermic and will not freeze over."
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A".

David Van Wickler

Genius, pure and simple.

We all need to look at the next troubleshoot like this young creative mind did.

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 **** exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic
(absorbs heat)?
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. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of
their religion, you will go to ****. 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 ****.
"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 proportionately 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) 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 Teresa during my Freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in **** before I sleep with you", and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having an affair with her, then #2 above cannot be true, and thus I am sure that **** is exothermic and will not freeze over."
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A".

Unknown

for Teresa......

Bill Wright_2

Thanks David ...

for the morning laugh ... I needed that today! :-)

Take care, my friend -- I hope that you & your family have a joyous Christmas.

Bill W.