1. How fast do Santa and his reindeer fly?
Or: how long does Santa have to deliver presents to each household?
All data taken from: “Can reindeer fly?” Roger Highfield
KSH Dec 2007

2. Some facts: 2,106 million children in the world
2.5 children per household
Earth’s radius 6,400km
29% of the surface area of the planet is land
KSH Dec 2007

3. How much time?
By travelling backwards against the rotation of the Earth then Santa has 48 hours to make his deliveries
KSH Dec 2007

4. So: How many households?
What is the surface area of the Earth? (Surface area of a sphere is 4πr²)
What is the area of the land mass?
What is the average area per household?
Assuming household plots are square, what is the distance between households (chimneys)?
How much time does Santa have at each household in seconds?
How fast would the sleigh be travelling to achieve this?
Is this slower than the speed of light? (The speed of light is absolute and cannot be exceeded (300 million metres per second))
KSH Dec 2007