by Gabe Zaldivar
Last updated: 10:00 PM ET, Mon December 22, 2014
Image via YouTube
Many of you are preparing to travel great lengths for Christmas. We would appreciate if you kept down the whining, because Santa Claus has you beat and then some.
PBS Digital Studios' YouTube channel It's Okay to Be Smart examines a question we still haven't answered fully. Simply, Joe Hanson ponders whether Santa Claus, that generous fat guy, is real.
Embedded within the highly scientific exploration that comes complete with stats, figures and mind-boggling data are some details about Santa's reindeer flight that will have you grateful you simply have to manage crowds at your nearest International airport.
First, we are regaled with crucial reindeer information that we can't wait to spout off once someone questions the viability of using said animals as primary propulsion on a worldwide tour with presents.
We then come to some startling facts, yes facts, about Mr. Claus' flight around the globe.
Santa, according to Hanson, travels west at remarkable speeds to garner a few more hours, which is why we love west coast traveling.
With an estimated 2.2 billion children, not accounting for those dropped to the naughty list, Hanson states, "At 2.3 children per household, that's 944 million stops."
And you gripe about having to make a couple family visits on Christmas day.
As for the miles logged, Hanson states:
"There's about 24.6 million square miles of habitable land on Earth, so if we average out the space between every chimney, that gives us about .026 square miles per household. If every household occupies an evenly spaced square 0.16 miles apart, Santa's sleigh has to cover more than 150,000,000 miles in 32 hours, which means an average speed of more than 1,300 miles per second."
Perhaps airlines would do well to examine utilizing reindeer power for future airplanes, getting us to our vacation locales in an instant. Maybe then we wouldn't gripe about reclining seats.
With obvious issues pertaining to air resistance and payload, Hanson casts some doubts as to how Santa does all this, offering the answer might be in parallel universes.
We came to a similar conclusion in the form of good ol' Christmas magic. Although a grand multiverse is what we will use with random Scrooges we encounter on Christmas day.
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