ON THE
TECHNICAL EXPLANATION FOR SANTA CLAUS'S ABILITY TO DELIVER PRESENTS WORLDWIDE
IN A SINGLE NIGHT
by
Larry
Silverberg
Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
An invited lecture presented at the
Annual Meeting held in
The
Premise
Goal: To explain the phenomenon of
Santa Claus
Human factors: What human conditions
can explain
the phenomenon?
Why would a community of elves
evolve to
dedicate itself to such a goal?
Engineering Principles: What
instruments and devices would need to be developed.
What engineering limitations would need to be overcome?
Science: Which scientific principles
would be used?
Do we currently have the ability to
understand these
scientific
principles? If we don't understand the scientific
principles, then why not, and why does
Santa understand
them?
The following is the story of how and why Santa delivers presents to
children based upon the most likely scenario given the human, physical, and
engineering constraints that we all live with.
The
Expedition to the North Pole
Centuries
ago, in a small Norwegian village crime becomes widespread (like biblical
Life at
the North Pole, with its cold weather and its strong winds, is difficult. But
the hardship draws Santa and his elves close together.
They
build elaborate underground dwellings to protect themselves from the harsh
conditions, and they learn how to grow their own food in underground
greenhouses.
The
underground dwellings are built using technologies similar to those developed
by NASA for moon dwellings. Closed ecological systems are used for agricultural
production and for high quality air circulation.
Santa
and elves agree to dedicate their lives to goodwill. They
write the following constitution:
WHEREAS, the
great elves of the North Pole are a generous and intelligent people; and
WHEREAS, dedication to
goodwill is uplifting to the spirit, to each and to all;
NOW, THEREFORE, we the great
elves of the North Pole from this day forward dedicate ourselves to the
delivery of presents once a year on the eve of CHRISTMAS day to the good
children of the world.
The
Evolution of Santa's
Science
and Technology
Santa's society
of elves has at least five hundred uninterrupted
years to evolve- socially and intellectually.
Their
understanding of physics and engineering exceeds our own.
To
deliver presents in a single night, Santa and elves would have researched a means
to create more "time" - recognizing that time itself can be stretched like a rubber band, that space itself can be squeezed like an
orange, and that light itself can be
bent (based on general relativistic principles).
It is
thought that the first breakthrough came when they learned how to control time, how to control space and how to control light. They would have created relativity clouds.
In
contrast with Santa's five hundred years of understanding general relativistic
principles, our understanding spans less than 100 years - and it's incomplete.
We haven't unified the electrical and gravitational forces, nor resolved issues
associated with wave-particle duality, nor examined singularities and other
dramatic curvatures of space-time that could be used to manipulate space-time.
Relativity
clouds are controllable domains (volumes) within which space-time is
controlled. An observer inside a relativity cloud perceives time, space and
light differently than an observer outside the relativity cloud.
Inside
the relativity cloud, Santa has months to deliver presents. Santa sees the
world frozen and only hears silence.
Upon
returning to the North Pole, and leaving the domain of the relativity cloud,
only a few minutes go by.
The
presents are truly delivered in the wink of an eye.
Listening
to Childrens Thoughts
An
antenna is spread out under the snow. The antenna aperture is a round mesh, a
few square miles in size, with mesh spacing on the order of a millimeter to
accommodate microwave frequency reception. The antenna receives the
electromagnetic waves from children's' thoughts.
The
associated input signals to the computer are divided into different sources
associated with children's brain waves. This is done by a dedicated filtering
software platform. The filtering is accomplished using tunable FFTs (fast Fourier transforms), adaptive pattern
recognition algorithms, and with artificial intelligent neural networks with
automated hidden layer constructions.
The
listening antenna combines technologies currently used in EKGs, antennas
looking into deep space, and cellular telephones.
The
Sleigh
The
sleigh-port is an underground facility that serves as a command and control
center. It houses Santa's central computer, which has a fully integrated
optical-based architecture. The sleigh has a similar on-board computer.
Unlike
our Shuttle, Santa's sleigh is a fully autonomous vehicle. At launch, the
sleigh downloads needed information, activates the relativity cloud, and initiates
the launch sequence.
The
Sleigh's dashboard is holographic. It displays cruise control and manual
override, the nano-toymaker, the childrens toy
lists, and the optimized navigational maps. The sleigh also has two drink
holders (for eggnog).
Reindeer
are equipped with jet packs for propulsion and control.
Reindeer
are specially bred to balance on rooftops and bio-engineered to see well at
night. But we think that Santa really uses reindeer because they're his
favorite arctic animals!
Entering
Homes
Relativity
cloud is used not only for transportation, but also to morph Santa into
children's homes.
Sleigh
changes some of the relativity cloud's characteristic parameters to send Santa
through the tiniest of openings into the child's home.
Depending
on time allowed, Santa has the option to morph the presents from the sleigh to
under the tree and not to enter the home himself.
The
Presents
The
presents are grown on-the-spot under the tree wrapping and all using a nano-toymaker.
Nano-toymaker has a toy information data base that is kept
on the sleigh and a remote control. The database contains toy-making
instructions. The remote control initiates the toy-making.
Use of a
nano-toymaker avoids the need to haul large quantities
of toys (reduces payload). It also simplifies and automates the elves' toy
making processes.
The nano-toymaker remote control is pointed at toy making
material placed under the tree, and a catalyst initiates a rapid
crystallization growth process. The process is analogous to inorganic crystal
growth of minerals, and snow, and the DNA driven organic growth of biological
organs, tissues and other body parts.
The toy
instruction algorithms could have been first developed by copying the manner in
which DNA molecules command the growth of organic material
Statistics
191 million children under age 18 in industrialized countries (per
UNICEF).
Average of 2.67
children per home. So there are 75 million homes to visit.
Earth's radius is
3986 miles which yields a surface area of 4pR2=200
million square miles.
Average
distance between homes is the square root of 200/75 =1.63 miles.
Total distance
traveled is 75x1.63=122 million miles.
An upper bound without relativity:
Assuming 1 sleigh delivering presents over 24 hours, the average speed of the
sleigh is 122x106/24=5, 083, 000 mph (Mach
480). The speed of light is 300 million meters/sec. = 669,600,000 mph which is
669,600/5,083=130 times greater than the average speed of the sleigh. There's
more than enough time to do it!!
A more realistic scenario:
Assume Santa delivers the presents in 6 "Santa" months. The average
speed is then 5,083,000/182.5 = 27,852 mph (Mach 2.62).
In another
scenario, assume that Santa has a fleet of 750 sleighs. The average speed is
then 84 mph - which is achievable using Santa's reindeer equipped with
jetpacks.
Summary
Human Factors:
conditions are established that create accelerated growth on the moral and
technological levels.
Physics: Santa's understanding
of relativistic principles reaches a point where the manipulation of time-space
becomes possible. Relativity clouds are created.
Engineering:
Antennas are used to listen to children's thoughts; An
advanced sleigh with jetpacks takes Santa from home to home in 6
"Santa" months (which in our time is in a wink of an eye); Data is
processed using an "optical" computer; toys are synthesized in a
process analogous to DNA growth of biological parts.
Final Comments: One
scenario explaining how Santa delivers presents to children worldwide in a
single night was put forward. Other scenarios should also be put forward - the
most plausible in the end prevailing.
The premise, as stated here, can be put forward to your students. It's
amazing what you'll find - when you ask them to dream...