Expert Thinks Quantum Physics Could Explain How Santa Claus Delivers Gifts in One Night
Every year, around the time of Christmas, young children await their presents from Santa Claus. In countless film and television depictions, the holiday mascot rides his sleigh pulled by reindeer to travel across the globe, delivering gifts to the children around the world within hours. While it's a great visual for folklore, in reality, things could get tricky. Physicist Metin Tolan, in his German-language book, Silent Night, Hasty Night (English translation), has explained the possibility of Santa delivering gifts around the world in a span of hours using modern quantum physics, as reported by Phys.org.
In his book, Tolan has referenced several instances from the past where Santa's existence was questioned. In 1897, 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun, begging to find an answer to the question: "Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?" O'Hanlon received an optimistic letter, confirming the existence of Santa using several poetic metaphors, a letter often reprinted in English-language newspapers. One time, a mail-order company published "Santa's number," but it turned out to be the Air Force's top-secret emergency number. Yet, the young children's belief in Santa wasn't dismissed, and a crew was appointed by the colonel to answer their questions.
This unexpected encounter eventually inspired NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Tracks Santa, a tradition where military radar is used to track Santa's global journey. This instance proves that Santa Claus is so much more than just a Christmas lore.
Tolan took it upon himself to use some science on Santa Claus. According to his calculation, Santa would make 2,708 visits per second to reach 234 million households in 24 hours to deliver presents to Christian kids up to age 10 who have been good throughout the year. If Santa traverses across the globe in the direction opposite to Earth's rotation, the time would extend to 32 hours, implying that only 2,000 gifts will be delivered in a single day. This means that Father Christmas will be traveling at a high speed and be invisible to the naked eye. However, traveling approximately at 50 million miles with a sleigh as heavy as 200,000 tons—assuming each gift weighs around 2 pounds—could crush and burn up Santa, the sleigh, and the reindeer, according to Tolan.
As per Tolan's calculations, Santa would need over six times the amount of energy consumed in Germany annually to accelerate his sleigh to the needed speed. But thanks to modern quantum physics, the day can be saved. According to Quantum theory, matter also has wave properties. Tolan explains, "For Santa Claus, this means that he must be replaced by a matter wave that exists throughout space and describes all the states he can occupy at the same time." Not just one Santa, but a whole Santa Claus wave can allow it to exist everywhere simultaneously.
Hence, according to the rules of quantum theory, one won't be able to actually see Santa make the deliveries, as he would be in all houses at the same time. If someone did see him, it would lead to the collapse of the Santa Claus wave there, and effectively, an end to the whole Santa Claus lore. Hence, this wave theory, along with some radical thinking, ensures Santa is always alive and well. "He has been on his way for an eternity of 20 octillion years," Tolan added.
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