Santa's secret: hi-tech magic
2008-12-15 23:04
Washington - Ever wondered how Santa
Claus can travel around the world in just one night on his
reindeer-pulled sleigh and deliver toys to all the children?
"He exploits the space-time continuum," says Larry
Silverberg, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering
at North Carolina State University.
Santa's magic may go far beyond merely travelling across 322 million km² to visit hundreds of
millions of homes of believing children in just one night,
Silverberg said.
"He understands that space stretches, he understands that
you can stretch time, compress space and therefore he can, in a
sense, actually have six Santa months to deliver the presents,"
Silverberg told Reuters.
"In our reference frame it appears as though he does it in
the wink of an eye and in fact there have been sightings of
Santa, quick sightings, and that's in our reference frame, but
in Santa's reference frame he really has six months."
Silverberg said his research has established that Santa
does not, as commonly thought, carry enough presents for each
child in his sleigh.
"How could he?" Silverberg asked.
"We believe that he uses nanotechnology to grow the
presents under the tree and really, what he's done, is he's
figured out how to turn what we call irreversible
thermo-dynamic properties into reversible ones and so he really
starts with soot, candy, other types of natural materials, he
puts them under the tree and he actually grows them in a
reverse process to create the presents, wrapping and all."
Sleigh-GPS
And then there's the age-old question that Santa has to
address every year - who's been naughty and who's been nice?
"We believe that there are large antennas miles long under
the snow up at the north pole and we think the grid-spacing is
in the order of millimetres so that you can receive radar-type
signals," Silverberg said.
Santa's trip takes in all continents and all time zones.
Silverberg says his sleigh is equipped with an onboard sleigh
guidance system.
His reindeer, says Silverberg, are genetically bred to
fly, balance on rooftops and see in the dark.
"It's certainly a worthy thing to spend time on and it has
all sorts of ramifications in everyday life," Silverberg said.
- Reuters