[Loch-Ruadh] OT: The best exam question ever.

[Terry Sikes]

Thanks a lot.  I've been doing my best to forget all that since Physics class and Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow.
   
  Terrence

Adam Harrison <concrete_donkey at yahoo.com> wrote:
  Nice...

Should have used Charles' law tho...

It's like Boyle's Law, but with pressure, volume, and
temperature!

(here comes a bunch of physics/chemistry)

Boyle's law actually is totally wrong for this,
because it assumes the subject is under constant
temperature and defines the relationship between
pressure and volume accordingly. (P1V1=P2V2)
p=pressure, v=volume

Charles figured out how to add temperature into the
relationship. (P1V1/T1=P2V2/T2) t=temperature

Both are actually applications of the Ideal Gas Law,
which is pretty much the most comprehensive law
governing gas properties, as far as I know. (PV=nRT)
n=number of molecules, R=the ideal gas law constant.

Charles' Law works under the assumption that the
system is fixed, as in, the number of molecules stays
the same(note that the ideal gas law does _not_
operate under this assumption). So, basically it
takes the ideal gas law and changes it to
PV/T="specific constant." This also works as
P1V1/T1="specific constant". Same for
P2V2/T2="specific constant". You can apply principles
of algebra from there to come up with the complete
law.

Boyle's Law works much in the same way except
temperature is also constant, so the ideal gas law can
be rewritten as PV="specific constant." And so on
from there as above to get to the full law.

Both of the laws are nothing more than specific
applications of the ideal gas law. So, for those of
you who may encounter gas laws in chemistry courses,
just remember how the ideal gas law works and with a
little algebra you can get to any of the other
combinations that you need. You don't have to mess
with learning every single law if you can understand
and apply the one that governs some of the others.


SCUBA related chemistry/physics rant off...
-Bjorn

--- Robyn Cantley wrote:

> Ok guys, I never really post anything OT....but I
> could not resist this...it 
> was just too funny to me. Now this isn't for
> children, so if you are 
> sensitive....delete this now. Thanks, and enjoy!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ceara
> 
> 
> 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
> 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 THE ONLY "A"
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Loch-Ruadh mailing list
> Loch-Ruadh at ansteorra.org
> http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/loch-ruadh
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
_______________________________________________
Loch-Ruadh mailing list
Loch-Ruadh at ansteorra.org
http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/loch-ruadh

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ansteorra.org/pipermail/loch-ruadh-ansteorra.org/attachments/20060421/a9fe3c9d/attachment-0002.htm>