> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wirt Atmar
>
> Professor Uses Comics to Teach Physics
[...]
> History major Kristin Barbieri, 19, tried to figure out how
> much caloric energy the Flash would need to circle the globe in 80
> seconds ... She concluded that the superhero simply could
> not have eaten enough to do it.
>
> ``He would have been able to get the first burst of energy,
> but he would have sunk (in an ocean) after that,'' Barbieri says.

Speaking of energy, circling the earth, etc., this reminds me of the
detailed scientific explanation of both why rudolph's nose is red and why
Santa (no longer) exists -- boiled down to the speed at which Santa would
have to make the trip; the mass of the reindeer, sleigh, santa (and the
cookies & milk he would consume), and the toys; and all that wonderful
energy being bandied about, the final conclusion is thus:

5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air
resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as
spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer
will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short,
they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer
behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire
reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa,
meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater
than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be
pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion -
If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.


[from http://www.primenet.com/~brendel/stsanta.html, but obviously available
from MANY places on the internet as google shows 21,000+ matches to the
query "scientific reason why santa is dead now"]

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