Sanat Claus: The Facts
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Every year, at December, millions of children around the world get excited. And why? Because they're waiting someone to pop down the chimney, leave a bunch of presents under a tree, eat some mince pies and fly back up the chimney. But, does this person, commonly known as Santa Claus, actually exist? Well, let's look at the facts.
There are no specis of flying reindeer known to man. But, there are 300,000 living organisms yet to be discovered on Earth and, while many of these are insects and bacteria, the idea of flying reindeer cannot be completely excluded.
There are 2 billion children (eg. people under 18 years of age) in the world. But, Santa only seems to deliver prezzies to Christian kids (many non-Christian children also recieve Christmas presents, however, but, I'm only going include the Christian children; no offence to any non-Christians). This reduces the number to 378 million children. And, with the average census rate at 3.5 children per household, there are 91.8 million houses to deliver to (and there's got to be at least one good kid in each house).
Because of different time zones, Santa has 31 hours to play with. That works out as 822.6 visits per second. If all the houses are evenly distributed, Santa has 71.604 million miles to travel, not counting loo breaks. This means Santa's sleigh has to travel at 650 miles per second (3,000 times the speed of sound). Remember, a normal, non-flying riendeer has a top speed of 15 miles per hour.
If each child gets a medium sized Lego set, weighing 2lbs, the sleigh has to carry 321,200 tons. But, most children will ask for more, like bikes, PCs, etc. which weigh much more than 2lbs. The sleigh also has to hold Santa, who is usually described as overweight. Normal, non-flying reindeer can pull a maximum of 300lbs. Even if flying reindeer can pull ten times that, Santa still needs 214,200 reindeer. This means the sleigh now weighs 353,430 tons, four times more than the QE2.
Over 350,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates massive air resistance. The lead pair of reindeer with absorb 14.3 quintillion Joules of energy. Per second. They will burst into flames, exposing the rest of the reindeer and creating deafening sonic booms. Every reindeer will be vapourised in just 4.26 thousandths of a second.
Meanwhile, poor Santa will be exposed to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 14 stone Santa will be pinned back to his seat by 4.3 billion pounds of force. And be reduced to goo.
So, in short, this person, known as Santa Claus, cannot exist. If he did, he would be dead by now. But, this leaves one final question. If Santa does not exist, then who delivers your presents?...
There are no specis of flying reindeer known to man. But, there are 300,000 living organisms yet to be discovered on Earth and, while many of these are insects and bacteria, the idea of flying reindeer cannot be completely excluded.
There are 2 billion children (eg. people under 18 years of age) in the world. But, Santa only seems to deliver prezzies to Christian kids (many non-Christian children also recieve Christmas presents, however, but, I'm only going include the Christian children; no offence to any non-Christians). This reduces the number to 378 million children. And, with the average census rate at 3.5 children per household, there are 91.8 million houses to deliver to (and there's got to be at least one good kid in each house).
Because of different time zones, Santa has 31 hours to play with. That works out as 822.6 visits per second. If all the houses are evenly distributed, Santa has 71.604 million miles to travel, not counting loo breaks. This means Santa's sleigh has to travel at 650 miles per second (3,000 times the speed of sound). Remember, a normal, non-flying riendeer has a top speed of 15 miles per hour.
If each child gets a medium sized Lego set, weighing 2lbs, the sleigh has to carry 321,200 tons. But, most children will ask for more, like bikes, PCs, etc. which weigh much more than 2lbs. The sleigh also has to hold Santa, who is usually described as overweight. Normal, non-flying reindeer can pull a maximum of 300lbs. Even if flying reindeer can pull ten times that, Santa still needs 214,200 reindeer. This means the sleigh now weighs 353,430 tons, four times more than the QE2.
Over 350,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates massive air resistance. The lead pair of reindeer with absorb 14.3 quintillion Joules of energy. Per second. They will burst into flames, exposing the rest of the reindeer and creating deafening sonic booms. Every reindeer will be vapourised in just 4.26 thousandths of a second.
Meanwhile, poor Santa will be exposed to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 14 stone Santa will be pinned back to his seat by 4.3 billion pounds of force. And be reduced to goo.
So, in short, this person, known as Santa Claus, cannot exist. If he did, he would be dead by now. But, this leaves one final question. If Santa does not exist, then who delivers your presents?...
