From "Applied Optics" vol. Our authority is Isaiah , "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days. The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.
The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed We have, then, that Heaven, at C is hotter than Hell at C. It is usually assumed that hell is at the center of Earth, therefore atmospheric pressure would be greater than 1 atm.
Someone could use this generalized equation to find the pressure in hell if they knew how far below Earth's surface hell was. 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 off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed or some variant.
According to a recent issue of the New Scientist, however, this estimate has been revised. Two physicists from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain have discovered that their predecessors misinterpreted the passage in Isaiah, wrongly multiplying seven by seven to make the illumination in heaven 49 times greater than that experienced on Earth.
The Archbishop of Madrid apparently confirms that only a single factor of seven was intended in the Bible, and as a result the temperature of heaven turns out to be a mere C - uncomfortably warm, some folks might say, but at least not quite as hot as hell.
Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription. When heaven was hotter than hell Mon, Apr 12, , Those who prefer to do their research in English can consult Spenser's Faerie Queene, or Milton's Paradise Lost which provides an excellent overview: A dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great furnace flam'd; yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Serv'd only to discover sights of woe.
Most Viewed. Watch More Videos. The clue as to the temperature of heaven follows from data available in the bible. Isiah reads:. Thus heaven receives from the moon as much radiation as we do from the sun and in addition seven times seven ie: 49 times as much as earth does from the sun. Often the story concludes with "The student received the only 'A' given on the exam. These unattributed distributions with false claims of "a true story" are simply annoying, and also unfair to the original authors.
The roots of this joke have been traced back to about , to a piece written by Paul Darwin Foote in a house publication of the Taylor Instrument Company.
If anyone knows of an earlier appearance, please let me know. Also, if anyone has the original version, I'd like to see it. I haven't yet seen the original version.
This piece does not compare temperatures of Heaven and Hell. It begins with the "assumption that souls have mass". Mass is never an issue in the other two. It also assumes souls have volume. The "logic" is completely different in these various parodies.
It seems to me far-fetched to connect the later parodies with the Foote parody. Nor am I convinced that Foote's piece "inspired" the others. I see no case that could be made for plagiarism. A good rule is "Whenever a story begins with 'This is a true story People suggested to me innumerable anecdotes attributed to famous scientists and mathematicians, all purporting to be "true". The trouble was that the same stories were often attributed to different persons and from different places.
I have come to assume that they are all inventions, or at least heavily embellished, unless some serious documentation is provided. The same is true for "quotes". The "If I have seen further than others So another rule is "If something is catchy enough to be attributed to someone famous, it really had its origin much earlier, probably with someone less famous.
Finally, some readers quibbled about a misprint in the temperature of Hell that I had in the final line of the parody from Applied Optics , which I think is now corrected, though I still don't have access to the original printed copy.
If anyone still doubts the result for the temperature of Hell, we suggest they apply the experimental method and go to the source carrying an accurate thermometer.
But if anyone has access to the paper copy in Applied Optics I'd be happy to receive a scan of it. No one has yet faulted the calculation of the temperature of Heaven. Perhaps none are expecting to go there.
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