The Science of Santa

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by S.A.M., Dec 25, 2006.

  1. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    The Science of Santa

    1. No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.


    2. There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn’t (appear) to handle Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total — 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that is 91.9 million homes. One presumes there’s at least one good child in each.


    3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75½ million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.


    4. This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest manmade vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second — a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.


    5. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized Lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN times their normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload — not even counting the weight of the sleigh — to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison — this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.


    6. 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance — this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as a spacecraft re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer with absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

    http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com/santaclaus.htm
     
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  3. redarmy11 Registered Senior Member

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    So.. exactly what are you saying?

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  5. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Gift certificates are a good idea.
     
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  7. Baron Max Registered Senior Member

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    Santa brings those, too.

    Baron Max
     
  8. Makaveli Registered Senior Member

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    Santa got me coal
     
  9. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Well that only makes me believe in Santa more.
     
  10. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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  11. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    The active ingredients of the amanita mushrooms are not metabolized by the body, and so they remain active in the urine. In fact, it is safer to drink the urine of one who has consumed the mushrooms than to eat the mushrooms directly, as many of the toxic compounds are processed and eliminated on the first pass through the body.

    It was common practice among ancient people to recycle the potent effects of the mushroom by drinking each other's urine. The amanita's ingredients can remain potent even after six passes through the human body. Some scholars argue that this is the origin of the phrase "to get pissed," as this urine-drinking activity preceded alcohol by thousands of years.

    Reindeer were the sacred animals of these semi-nomadic people, as the reindeer provided food, shelter, clothing and other necessities. Reindeer are also fond of eating the amanita mushrooms; they will seek them out, then prance about while under their influence. Often the urine of tripped-out reindeer would be consumed for its psychedelic effects.
     
  13. Walter L. Wagner Cosmic Truth Seeker Valued Senior Member

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    Wow!

    I just tell my kids, in answer to their questions about Santa, that it's magic. No need to bother them with samcdkey's scientific explanations, which are too involved for most kids.
     
  14. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Sorry I cannot take the credit for that piece of work. I'm just the means of transport. Sort of like the reindeer.

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  15. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Your kids aren't going to believe you if you tell them Santa's journey is magic. But if you tell them his sleigh has a warp field generator (or a Stargate or a wormhole generator or a portable jump gate depending on your favorite sci fi show) they'll think that's cool.
     

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