THE PHYSICS OF SANTA CLAUS

Christmas is a magical time of year, and we all know Santa Claus, his elves and his eight tiny 
reindeer defy the laws of physics.

But just for fun, Cleveland-based American Greetings did a study to find out what would happen 
if the usual rules and regulations were applied to Jolly Old St. Nick:

Assuming Santa will travel east to west to take advantage of the Earth's rotation, he will have 
31 hours to complete his mission this Christmas Eve.

During this time, he will stop at 87 million homes, and will leave cards and gifts for an 
astounding 456 children every second. (The actual total may be slightly less since the study 
made no attempt to distinguish between naughty and nice children.)

If each child receives only a single two-pound gift, Santa's sleigh will be carrying a payload of 
50,900 tons. To carry all those gifts, Santa's sleigh will need to be as large as nearly three 
Empire State Buildings stacked together.

It takes an estimated 109,000 elves working 12 solid weeks to make enough gifts for each child to 
receive one by Christmas Eve. Assuming Santa is paying the median salary of $21 per hour required 
for a skilled craftsman, he's shelling out more than $1 billion dollars to cover the elf payroll.  
And that doesn't include medical, dental or a 401K plan.