Santa statistics

[andr3axox 0]

No known species of reindeer can fly. But there are roughly 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified. While most of these are insects and germs, this does not rule out flying reindeer - though Santa and my uncle Ralph, in his drinking days, are the only people who've ever seen one.

There are two billion children (small people under the age of 18 ) in the world. But since Santa doesn't (appear to) handle most non-Christian children, that reduces the workload to about 15 per cent of the total (roughly 378 million according to the Population Reference Bureau). At a rate of say, 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good kid 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. That's 822.6 visits per second. For each eligible household, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, put presents under the tree, eat any snacks, kiss mommy when available, get back up the chimney, hop in the sleigh and move on.

Assuming each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth, we're now talking about 0.78 miles per household - a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting stops to let Santa and the reindeer do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours.

This means Santa's sleigh moves at 650 miles per second, or 3,000 times the speed of sound. The fastest man-made vehicle, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles a second (a conventional reindeer, by the way, can run 15 miles per hour, tops).

Assuming each child gets nothing more that a medium-sized Lego set (two pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting overweight Santa. Conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting flying reindeer could pull 10 times the normal amount, Santa would need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload (not counting the sleigh) to 353,430 tons, or four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth II. 353,000 tons travelling at 650 miles a second creates enormous air resistance, which would heat the reindeer to incandescence in the same fashion as spacecraft or meteors 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 creating deafening sonic booms. The entire team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second.

Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces of 17,500.06 gravities. A 250-pound Santa (a wee bit of an underestimate) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

The Internet originator's conclusion to the above: "If Santa ever did deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now."

 

:tease:

Editat Decembrie 7, 2006 de andr3axox

[deleted 1]

In england its tradition to leave santa a mince pie, and a glass of sherry. He would certainly be dead from alcohol poisoning too, unless he crashed his sleigh first from being drunk.

[Anna Condor 3]

u forgot to mention the carots for the reindeer ! :stars:

[Shadowdancer 4]

Ways to Confuse Santa Claus

 

- Instead of milk and cookies, leave him a salad, and a note explaining that you think he could stand to lose a few pounds.

 

- While he's in the house, go find his sleigh and write him a speeding ticket.

 

- Leave him a note, explaining that you've gone away for the holidays. Ask if he would mind watering your plants.

 

- While he's in the house, replace all his reindeer with exact replicas. Then wait and see what happens when he tries to get them to fly.

 

- Keep an angry bull in your living room. If you think a bull goes crazy when he sees a little red cape, wait until he sees that big, red Santa suit!

 

- Build an army of mean-looking snowmen on the roof, holding signs that say "We hate Christmas," and "Go away Santa"

 

- Leave a note by the telephone, telling Santa that Mrs. Claus called and wanted to remind him to pick up some milk and a loaf of bread on his way home.

 

- Set a bear trap at the bottom of the chimney. Wait for Santa to get caught in it, and then explain that you're sorry, but from a distance, he looked like a bear.

 

- While he's in the house, find the sleigh and sit in it. As soon as he comes back and sees you, tell him that he shouldn't have missed that last payment, and take off.

 

:stars: :tease: :D :)

[Shadowdancer 4]

<h2 style="margin: 10px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 18px;"> More Ways to Confuse Santa Claus </h2> - Leave a plate filled with cookies and a glass of milk out, with a note that says, "For The Tooth Fairy." Leave another plate out with half a stale cookie and a few drops of skim milk in a dirty glass with a note that says, "For Santa"

 

- Take everything out of your house as if it's just been robbed. When Santa arrives, show up dressed like a policeman and say, "Well, well. They always return to the scene of the crime."

 

- Leave out a copy of your Christmas list with last-minute changes and corrections.

 

- While he's in the house, cover the top of the chimney with barbed wire.

 

- Leave lots of hunting trophies and guns out where Santa's sure to see them. Go outside, yell, "Ooh! Look! A deer! And he's got a red nose!" and fire a gun.

 

- Leave Santa a note, explaining that you've moved. Include a map with unclear and hard-to-read directions to your new house.

 

- Leave out a Santa suit, with a dry-cleaning bill.

 

- Paint "hoof-prints" all over your face and clothes. While he's in the house, go out on the roof. When he comes back up, act like you've been "trampled." Threaten to sue.

 

- Instead of ornaments, decorate your tree with Easter eggs. Dress up like the Easter Bunny. Wait for Santa to come and then say, "This neighborhood ain't big enough for the both of us."

 

 

 

 

 

 

:blink: :doh: :P :)