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 :
Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

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Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (which proves that gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed), or some variant.

One student, however, gave a very unique answer:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing with 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 can't leave. Since no one leaves Hell, it means that the population of Hell is constantly expanding.

If we would like to know how many souls enter Hell on a daily basis, we just need to look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Almost all religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go straight to Hell. No matter if you may be an honest, law-abiding person, who may have never committed a sin.

Since there are many religions and they mostly state the same requirement for entry to hell, who are we to claim that one is better than the rest?

As such, we can safely 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, let's look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell -- Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the overall 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. Conversely, 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?

MY THEORY
(I have to bring Teresa into this -- please read on to understand why)

In my Freshman year, Teresa said to me, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you!' Since she finally slept with me last night, then number 2 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 couldn't posibly accept any more souls. Therefore, Hell must be extinct ....leaving only Heaven! This further proves the true existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God!'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.