ChunShiong dug up an interesting answer. I first saw that quite sometime ago, though I now cannot remember where. It was supposedly an answer submitted by a student. It was claimed that the original question "Is hell endothermic or exothermic" was possed by a professor for a physics class.

However, the answer is wrong. IMO, this student should get a big fat zero. He has made multiple errors in physics and logic. (Anyone cares to point these out?)

The correct answer is neither.

Chemical reactions are described as endothermic or exothermic, depending on whether they absorb heat from, or release heat into the environment. This is normally where we first learn the term. It can also be used to described other processes that are not chemical reactions, for example the compression of gas.

However, physical objects and places cannot be described as endothermic or exothermic. This is simply not a property they can have.

What you could ask is whether the process of souls entering or leaving hell is endothermic or exothermic.

What the "student" answer is actuall a different question that was never asked. "Is the temperature of hell going up or down?"

As I said earlier, it's a trick question. One designed to see if the student actually know the meaning of the term.

But whether hell is real or not, does not mean it cannot be used to teach science. There are physics teachers who use Superman and other superheroes in their classes to teach their subject. The point is to get the students attention. Not convince them that superheroes are real.

That'll be 21 Grams right? I never watched the movie, but only heard about it. This originated from a doctor a century ago, who put dying people on a scale, and measured that they lighten by 3/4 ounce when they die. The result has not been reproduced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_MacDougall_%28doctor%29