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Every Christmas Eve, certain traditions say that Santa has just one night to deliver presents to millions of children around the globe.
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Now, this might seem unreasonable from a scientific perspective.
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But we wondered: exactly how unreasonable is it?
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Overall, it's difficult to determine how many people around the world celebrate a Santa-centric Christmas on December 25th.
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But if we consider certain religious and cultural traditions, we get a rough estimate of about 600 million people.
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Now, let's say each household has, on average, two and a half kids.
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So Santa only needs to visit 240 million homes.
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Even better? He has more time to get the job done than you might think.
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Legend has it that he drops by when the kids are asleep.
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So that gives him eight hours, right?
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Well, hold up.
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We mustn't forget about time zones.
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There are 24 broad time zones worldwide, each one hour apart.
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So factor in the different Christmas Eve start times across the planet, and Kringle's got a luxurious 31 hours to make his deliveries.
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Unfortunately, this is where his luck runs out.
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Because just to reach every house, he'll have to fly 1,200 times faster than the world's fastest jet fighter.
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That's a lot to ask of nine reindeer, which can only gallop up to 80 kilometers per hour on average, way too slow.
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But to be fair, that's the best they can do on the ground.
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Since we don't know exactly how fast a reindeer can fly, let's assume they can manage those incredible speeds.
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Even then, the load they have to lug is much too heavy for them.
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If every kid receives a single mid-sized Lego set, the bag alone would weigh a whopping 600,000 tons, or about 20 Statue of Liberties.
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Meanwhile, the average reindeer can pull up to twice their weight, or about 225 kilograms.
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So those deer aren't going anywhere.
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And even if they could, well, it wouldn't be pretty.
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For starters, the team would create a massive sonic boom as they hurdle through the air at 3,000 times faster than the speed of sound, deafening any bystanders on the ground below.
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Merry Christmas folks!
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But it gets worse.
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Once Rudolph and Co take off, they vaporize before they reach their first house.
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Just like how a rocket heats up when it re-enters the atmosphere at tremendous speeds, the reindeer would heat to blistering temperatures that would turn them into venison jerky.
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And Santa wouldn't fare much better because he's sitting on what amounts to the worst roller-coaster ride on Earth.
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When a typical coaster accelerates, you get pushed back against your seat.
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But in Santa's case, to accelerate to those extreme speeds makes for a much stronger push.
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A force tens of thousands of times stronger than gravity would pin into the sleigh, smashing his bones and internal organs to jelly.
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But it's not all doom and gloom.
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Let's assume Santa and friends miraculously survive this ordeal.
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He slips his conveniently boneless body through chimney after chimney, drops off the gifts, and now gets to munch on his well-deserved treats.
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A lot of treats.
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If every household offers him three sugar cookies and one 8-ounce glass of whole milk, that's 720 million cookies and enough milk to fill 23 Olympic swimming pools total.
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Now, that adds up to 396 billion calories,
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plenty to see him through his hibernation until Christmas comes round again.