# Is Hell exothermic or endothermic?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-exothermic-or-endothermic/143843>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 19, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-exothermic-or-endothermic/143843 "2002-12-19T18:00:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-exothermic-or-endothermic/143843/1 "2002-12-19T18:00:39Z")

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support your answer with proof.

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-exothermic-or-endothermic/143843/3 "2002-12-19T18:11:00Z")

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**blister** :

Unless you really wrote that try giving a link to the source of your answer such as:

[Is Hell Endothermic or Exothermic](http://www.jyi.org/resources/humor/hell.html)

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**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-exothermic-or-endothermic/143843/4 "2002-12-19T18:11:59Z")

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This is a rather famous thermodynamics question. A search on google will turn up many many copies of the student essay which made it famous and which has been widely circulated by email, e.g.  
[http://www.pinetree.net/humor/thermodynamics.html](http://www.pinetree.net/humor/thermodynamics.html)

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**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-hell-exothermic-or-endothermic/143843/5 "2002-12-19T18:13:44Z")

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Snopes has an article about this at [http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.htm](http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.htm).