The Physics of Santa and His Reindeer
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a lill' s'thing for the hopefuls....
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.
There are two billion children (persons under 1
in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't appear to handle the 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's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.
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, Santa 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.
This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made 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.
If every one of the 91.8 million homes with good children were to put out a single chocolate chip cookie and an 8 ounce glass of 2% milk, the total calories (needless to say other vitamins and minerals) would be approximately 225 calories (100 for the cookie, give or take, and 125 for the milk, give or take). Multiplying the number of calories per house by the number of homes (225 x 91.8 x 1000000), we get the total number of calories Santa consumes that night, which is 20,655,000,000 calories. To break it down further, 1 pound is equal to 3500 calories. Dividing our total number of calories by the number of calories in a pound (20655000000/3500) and we get the number of pounds Santa gains, 5901428.6, which is 2950.7 tons.
The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (two 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 above) could pull TEN TIMES the 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. 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will 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.
In conclusion: If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now. -
Good explaination... Now I can forgive Santa for NOT giving me present...
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But he sub-contracted his distribution channel to other companies mah
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lolz!!!!!!!!!! out-sourcing!Originally posted by sgboy2004:But he sub-contracted his distribution channel to other companies mah -
Dear Santa,
I have been a very nice and sweet girl this year. Can I have a house for my present this year? I will hang my stocking by the fireplace
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Barbie toy hse...? I tink weight alot...Originally posted by MooKu:Dear Santa,
I have been a very nice and sweet girl this year. Can I have a house for my present this year? I will hang my stocking by the fireplace -
No lar.Originally posted by Bontakun:Barbie toy hse...? I tink weight alot...
I want a three-storey bungalow with swimming pool, big garden and long driveway -
Either the socks u hung is damn very very very big, or the house u get is damn very very very smallOriginally posted by MooKu:Dear Santa,
I have been a very nice and sweet girl this year. Can I have a house for my present this year? I will hang my stocking by the fireplace -
Can....but must be black lace stocking!!!Originally posted by MooKu:Dear Santa,
I have been a very nice and sweet girl this year. Can I have a house for my present this year? I will hang my stocking by the fireplace -
No lar, normal sock. Santa can put the key in thereOriginally posted by sgboy2004:Either the socks u hung is damn very very very big, or the house u get is damn very very very small -
Wat brand har?Originally posted by ratinacage:Can....but must be black lace stocking!!! -
Originally posted by ratinacage:Can....but must be black lace stocking!!!
u are not santa leh.
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don't bother about the brand man. just as long as she let's us see her wearing it ..... ONLY IT lolz!!!Originally posted by sgboy2004:Wat brand har? -
Tink Santa drop U a bomb... Lolx!!!Originally posted by MooKu:No lar.
I want a three-storey bungalow with swimming pool, big garden and long driveway -
if i get a complain about this msg from mooku(or anybody)....OUT u go nitwit!!!!Originally posted by eutjin:don't bother about the brand man. just as long as she let's us see her wearing it ..... ONLY IT lolz!!!
playing in my field,my minefield!!! -
not me, not meOriginally posted by ratinacage:if i get a complain about this msg from mooku(or anybody)....OUT u go nitwit!!!!
playing in my field,my minefield!!! 
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I WANT TO COMPLAIN!!!!!Originally posted by ratinacage:if i get a complain about this msg from mooku(or anybody)....OUT u go nitwit!!!!
playing in my field,my minefield!!!
only if eutjin refuses to come to the good side
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yikes .....Originally posted by ratinacage:if i get a complain about this msg from mooku(or anybody)....OUT u go nitwit!!!!
playing in my field,my minefield!!! 
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Originally posted by MooKu:
i doubt my posts would help with the game. my goodness, my posts are 10% of yours
I WANT TO COMPLAIN!!!!!
only if eutjin refuses to come to the [b]good side[/b]
i'm working on increasing them
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Come to the GOOD SIDE.. then I will not complain heeOriginally posted by eutjin:yikes .....
Quick hor. I am waiting -
Originally posted by MooKu:
. . . . . . . . .
I WANT TO COMPLAIN!!!!!
only if eutjin refuses to come to the [b]good side[/b]
Right...... -
it's okay! we don't mindOriginally posted by eutjin:i doubt my posts would help with the game. my goodness, my posts are 10% of yours
i'm working on increasing them really -
hmm? of course right lar. the good side is always right mahOriginally posted by Bontakun:. . . . . . . . .
Right...... -
Originally posted by MooKu:
i help u,u wanna pull ppl away from me SUE!!! -
WRONG... Good side is not ALL da time right... We dun even noe wats right or wrong... but we do noe wats good or evil... so......Originally posted by MooKu:hmm? of course right lar. the good side is always right mah
U r good! U r my ENEMY!!!