For all of youSanta Clausdoubters out there wondering how the big guy can make it across the universe in one night , take a good look at " Star Trek . " Although the U.S.S. Enterprise is a fabricated spaceship from a fictional television show , the idea of traveling atsuperluminal speeds– faster than the speed of light – throughout space is a very real construct .
WhenEinsteinwrote down his famous due east = MC² formula , he was enunciate that mint is energy in a very concentrated chassis . If you could take thing and commute it intoenergy , it could make an unbelievable source of power . Think about it – the C2 in that par is thespeed of light(300,000 meters per second ) times the speed of light . Even if you had a tiny bit ofmass– the letter " M " in the equation – the alphabetic character " einsteinium " on the other side of that equation can be really big . So how do you make that " E " swelled enough to travel around the human race in one dark – on asleighwith nine or morereindeer , for that matter ?
Although no one may ever know for certain just how Santa operate , we at HowStuffWorks have what we recall are the most consistent explanations for how the self-aggrandising bozo attain all that he does : skill and engineering . And we intend that Santa could have mastered thepowerofantimatter , the same conceptNASAis hoping to use to establish its own version of the U.S.S. Enterprise .
Santa and hiselveswould have to outfit his sledge with aStardust Antimatter Propulsion Engine . This equipment would allow Santa to deliver toys around the world in one night and be back to the North Pole in fourth dimension for a Christmas Day spread . So what is antimatter , and what makes it so important in Santa ’s sleigh ? In the next section , we ’ll look at how Santa could be using antimatter in his sleigh.
Matter and Antimatter
Antimatteris incisively what it voice like – the reverse of matter . Antimatter particles are like mirror images of normal particles , with the same mass but diametric charges . When affair and antimatter collide , they eliminate each other , creating a complete conversion of issue into muscularity . you could readHow Antimatter Spacecraft Will Workfor more information .
NASA , for example hopes to build one that would get us to Mars in a thing of weeks [ source : NASA ] . But Santa ’s room in advance of the biz . One reason it ’s heavy for us to build a thing - antimatter engine is because of the lack of antimatter in the universe – scientist think that during the Big Bang , there was more matter than antimatter , and most of the antimatter was annihilated .
Fortunately , we can make antimatter ourselves with bigatom smasherslike CERN . If we could rule a agency to safely contain antimatter , we ’d be on our way to Mars in about a month . We think that Santa could have a large stock of antimatter in the North Pole – could that be why Canada , Russia and the U.S. are all shin to claim theArctic ?
Another big problem with antimatter actuation drives is the acute amount of gammaradiationreleased from the subject - antimatter collision . Since radiation is very harmful , it could put Santa at jeopardy . So we surmise that he must have a closet full of special lead - free red suit to block any surrounding radiotherapy .
Tracking Santa Claus With NORAD
Now that we ’ve explored the science behindSanta ’s sleigh , rent ’s look at who else is cross his flight itinerary .
The North American Aerospace Defense Command , orNORAD , is a military organization run by both the United States and Canada , and its job is to monitor all possible aerial attacks coming into North America . With a massive amount ofradarsystems installed across Canada , NORAD can track quite a lot of air space movement .
NORAD continue an eye on more than just possible attacks , however , as they have tracked Santa ’s movements for more than 50 years . The tradition began in 1955 when NORAD ’s herald , the Continental Air Defense Command ( CONAD ) , get several calls from kid hoping to talk with Santa Claus – a Sears department store had erroneously listedSanta’snumber as CONAD ’s process hotline . The music director of operations at the sentence , Colonel Harry Shoup , located Santa ’s sleigh on radar , and the tradition was cash in one’s chips onto NORAD when it formed in 1958 [ source : NORAD ] . Today , you may still call or sende - mail , and hundreds of volunteers spend their Christmas Eve relaying information to thousands of tyke singular about Santa ’s whereabouts .
So how do they do it ? They simply take the same technology used for detecting missiles and apply it to Santa ’s sleigh . NORAD uses heat - seeking geosynchronous satellites to track missiles . Since projectile give off lots of heat when they ’re fired off , it ’s fairly easy to track them [ source : NORAD ] . Since Santa ’s StardustAntimatterPropulsion Rocket would get pretty hot when it travels around the world , NORAD could figure out his general emplacement throughout the Nox . Rudolph ’s nose would also give off some supernumerary heat , too , making it all the easier to follow the sleigh ’s advancement throughout Christmas Eve .
If evidence from one major organization is n’t enough , in 2006 , theFederal Aviation Administration ( FAA)cleared Santa for flight [ beginning : ComPilots Aviation Portal ] . Responsible for ensure the safety of million of holiday travelers every year with a complex meshing ofair traffic controlsystems , the FAA recognize jolly honest-to-god St. Nick ’s flying path and confirmed his coordinates in one clean slam .
Keep reading for more on high - speed travel and other Christmas - concern article .
