Posted: 12/12/2004 7:45:31 AM EDT
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I'm trying to calculate the necessary average airspeed of Santa Claus. For this, I need to know the number of households (I'll take 7/8 of that for an estimation of households that celebrate Christmas), but I don't quite know where to find such a number. Yes, I will post results when I get them. |
Physics Christmas bonus problem? |
Only if I can convince my teacher. No, this is for fun. Nobody knows? |
You'll want to find the population of the world. Then, you'll want to find the average number of persons per household, and divide accoordingly. The problem is that most stats like this are done on a country by country basis. It might take quite a while. |
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Though many of you have already seen the first part of this, I am including > it again as a reference for the argument in Santa's favor. > > ========================= > > IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS? > > As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help > from that renown scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1990), I am > pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus. > > 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 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. > > 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, 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 0.78 miles per household, a total trip of > 75-1/2 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. > > 4) 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 the normal anoint, 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. > > 5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air > resistance. This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as > spacecrafts 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. > > ========================= > > REBUTTAL > > The theories outlined in the previous article, while being mathematically > and scientifically correct, are somewhat limited in scope. I offer some > speculations in another direction. I feel that it is necessary to offer > the POSSIBILITY that Santa Claus (or some iteration of that story) exists, > in opposition to the distinctly negative slant that the aforementioned > source article suggests. > > Consider, if Santa Clause started his operation sometime in the 1600's (as > legend has it), then it's altogether likely that it is no longer THE Santa > Claus that carries out this yearly responsibility. I ask for some attitude > at this point, as I am not a mathematician, so my numbers, though close, > will be approximate. > > Lets examine the possibility of Claus population. At an accepted average > rate of 3.5 generations per century (Population Reference Bureau), this > gives us approximately 14 generations of Claus breeding to consider. At an > average (taking historical references and averages as a rule) of four > children per Claus Family (starting with Santa and Mrs. Claus), producing > at least two males per family unit, that renders a total current possible > Claus population of approximately a quarter of a BILLION Clauses (factoring > in the attrition due to the harsh Arctic Circle climate, reindeer pilot > training incidents, elf uprisings, sibling homicide, and other accidental > deaths). > > Presuming that the maintenance of the secret of the Claus "situation" is > due to limitation or exclusion of outside people, this would lead us to > speculate that the current Claus population is a product of rampant > inbreeding. Generations and generations worth. So much so that the > combination of magnified recessive gene traits, exclusion of new genetic > material, and limited task training has, in all likelihood, produced a > population of Task Specific Idiot Savant Clauses who know nothing other > than the functions of piloting sleighs in flight (clear point of contention > with the original article), breaking and entering, gift distribution, and > gorging on any exposed foodstuffs, all on one specific evening all around > the world. I believe that this massive undertaking is financed by a well > established fund raising program, implemented centuries ago, incorporating > the street-corner and mall residing Santas. > > If the idea of a multi-Claus population were proved, that would guarantee > that all of the Santas would then, in fact, be THE Santa Claus (or more > appropriately, _A_ Santa Claus), simplifying the explanation to children > inquiring into why there are so many Clauses ringing bells, or why Santa > was at THIS mall when he was just at the LAST one. That would also > alleviate any guilt on the parents part stemming from feeling the need to > respond to the child with either the perceived truth that there is actually > NO Santa Claus (surely helping the child along to his/her specific > predestined emotional dysfunction), or the creation and maintenance of a > lie ("Oh, that's because he's following us, dear", surely resulting in deep > psychological scarring in the child for life, and producing an unfortunate > deep seated fear of overweight people in red crushed velvet leisure suits > and black patent leather boots). Of course, this also means that every > city and town has a resident population of Clauses, simplifying local gift > distribution. > > Back to the numbers. If we do the math, we would see that the average > number of "Active Delivery Units" (which we will refer to hereafter as > ADU's, being described as male-Claus gift distribution units, but not with > the insensitive intent of perpetuating the sexist image of the traditional > Christmas figure) is reduced to a paltry 53.5 million ADU's. Keep in mind > that though there are clearly more Male Clauses alive at this point, some > may be children, some in training, and some may be too old or infirm to > engage in the Christmas Eve task. Using the numbers that you provided in > your article, 98.1 million homes, our numbers would suggest that the > average Claus would only have to deliver to and average of 1.71 homes, and > they would only need to walk an average of a mile and-a-half to get there. > Of course, rural ADU's might have fewer homes and further to walk, where > urban Clauses might have more homes in a more compressed neighborhood, but > Claus allocation would address that. > > As far as Payload per household is concerned, we need to clarify that as a > current societal issue. In today's society, we can no longer afford to > judge a child to the extent that what they receive on Christmas morning is > based on their emotional/psychological/interpersonal performance of the > past year. The modern non-Claus family unit (practicing random breeding > patterns, typically excluding members of their immediate family) cannot > bear the responsibility or social impact of having raised a dysfunctional > child. Thus, we can presume that the lumps of coal and switches are no > longer gift options to be delivered by an ADU. Our point is, all Christmas > participating non-Claus families with children will receive actual gifts. > > Again, based on our current societal standards, the average family of three > children will receive a minimum of eleven gifts (three for each of the > children, and one each for the parents, regardless of whether or not they > believe in Santa). I would conservatively estimate the average total > weight of gifts per family to be in the 50-70 lb. range, which is no > problem at all for a lumbering idiot-savant who considers the > transportation of this payload to be among the chief ingredients to his > happiness (the delivery of which immediately follows the most satisfying > Breaking and Entering portion of the evening, and the reward of which would > be the removal and consumption of any exposed baked goods). Engaging in > these activities in the house/houses within his jurisdiction is the only > thing that truly gives him pleasure (save, perhaps, producing his share of > Clauses with his particular Mrs. Claus). At an average walking speed of > three miles-per-hour, travel time would be roughly an hour, round trip, per > house. Using this theory, the arguments about friction, wind resistance, > and centrifugal force are reduced to insignificance. The only flames that > and ADU might face might be found in the dying embers in a fireplace, and > then only if an ADU insisted on using the chimney as an access point > (probably uncommon nowadays, and realistically unlikely). > > As far as the reindeer are concerned, I think that you have not fully > examined their usage from an operational standpoint. I have considered > that with common herd thinning, and attrition through losses when flying > over countries with sensitive military airspace, they might have phased out > the usage of flying reindeer altogether. Understanding that each ADU has > only to walk a couple of miles to reach a target household, the use of > reindeer as transportation on Christmas Eve would be a waste of reindeer > technology and resources. However, if we discount the herd thinning, and > apply the same formulas to reindeer mating as we have to the Claus > Principle (excepting, we hope, the incest), one would end up with an > enormous herd. This would provide a wonderful stock delivery service from > the manufacturing site at the North Pole (assuming that they have not > followed suit with other modern manufacturing companies and either built > remote manufacturing sites, or out-sourced their operations altogether) > directly to the residence of each ADU. Understanding that the ground speed > of a laden reindeer is approximately 15 miles-per-hour (factoring in > variables in terrain, un-navigable obstacles, and hoof soreness), we might > then grant an airborne reindeer a possible forward airspeed of perhaps 75 > miles per hour. At that speed, the distribution process could begin as > early as August. > > It is clear to me that the author of the previous article was very negative > on the possibility of an actual functioning Santa (or Santas). It is > evident that science has blinded that author's perspective, and it is my > hope that my article might correct any damage that might have been caused > to any children that might have happened upon that author's most > narrow-minded opinion. > |
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you must also know the % of households that beleive in santa claus. He does not visit EVERY house on the planet therefore his travel ime is vastly reduced. You must also take into account the amount of buck shot he collects on the way, flying over the southern USA. All those lead pellets add considerable weigh to the sleigh. mike |