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Posted: 07 Dec 2009 11:28 AM PST

Scientists ponder the technology Santa Claus employs

For many years, skeptics to Santa Claus have argued that it's a scientific impossibility for him to deliver all of his presents to children around the world in one night. But a new line of research suggests that Santa is able to do that by employing some cutting-edge technology and advanced science, which normal people are just beginning to decipher. Undoubtedly, most of the new stuff he uses is concentrated in his sleigh, which scientists hail as the most advanced piece of aircraft ever created.

"Santa is using technologies that we are not yet able to recreate in our own labs. As the first scholar to participate in the Santa's Workshop-North Pole Labs (SW-NPL) program, I learned that we have a long way to go to catch up with Santa in fields ranging from aerodynamics and thermodynamics to materials science," North Carolina State University (NC State) Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dr. Larry Silverber says.

The expert has just finished a six-month visiting-scholar program stay at the SW-NPL, and brings new insight into the matter.

The expert says that the sleigh is highly advanced. "The truss of the sleigh, including the runners, are made of a honeycombed titanium alloy that is very lightweight and 10 to 20 times stronger than anything we can make today," he adds. The truss can also change shape, "allowing it to cut through the air more efficiently. The runners on the sleigh, for example, have some flexure. This allows them to tuck in to be more aerodynamic during flight, and then spread out to provide stability for landing on various surfaces – such as steeply pitched roofs," the scientist says.

Additionally, Santa apparently mastered the art of harnessing "relativity clouds" for his own use. Inside these clouds, time can be wrapped like a bubble, which basically gives him a few months' time to deliver the presents, while mere minutes pass for normal people like us. "Based on his advanced knowledge of the theory of relativity, Santa recognizes that time can be stretched like a rubber band, space can be squeezed like an orange and light can be bent. Relativity clouds are controllable domains – rips in time – that allow him months to deliver presents while only a few minutes pass on Earth. The presents are truly delivered in a wink of an eye," Silverber says.

He also adds that the propulsion system is based on jetpack-equipped reindeer, which use the power of cold fusion for their amazing speed. The animals, reins and jetpacks are "arrayed in such a way as to create a stable reindeer-sleigh system. The sleigh's reins are used to not only direct the heads of the reindeer, but to direct the orientation of the jetpacks for precision flight," the expert says. As such, Santa doesn't even need to exceed the speed of light to do his job, ScienceDaily reports.

Source: Softpedia News