Alasdair McKay
haggis@haggis.ca
http://haggis.ca
As one of a vanishing breed who actually have bits of paper from universities qualifying them in Natural Philosophy, I feel a duty to comment on forwarded mail on reindeer flight.
I'll take a kick at anything ... especially this
My recent experience suggests this statement is incorrect. I was recently in the region of Lac de Gras ( Middle of Nowhere, NWT, D0D 0D0 ) and retrieved from the tundra the skull and antlers of a reindeer, which had probably never been in reins and had likely met its end at the paws and teeth of a grizzly. The carrying back of this trophy to the far off land of Nova Scotia required the obtaining of an export permit from the customs authorities in Yellowknife, a northerly Canadian town which maintains its economic viability by writing on bits of paper about dead animal parts.
As the skull, though very dead, was not entirely devoid of organic odour, I consigned it to a spot in our yard in Dartmouth, NS for it to weather a bit, leaving it under the tender and eternally vigilant eye of our benevolent-looking half-ton concrete caryatid who also lives in the yard. Some weeks later, the skull and antlers vanished and the caryatid could give me no indication that any person nor any large dog had carried them off. The inescapable conclusion is that these bits of reindeer, having no legs with which to run, flew off.
If seeming dead parts of such a creature are capable of flight, then the aerial performance of the live animal may well be quite dramatic.
How exactly does one estimate the number of unknown species ?
Is this specification of powers of ten supposed to mean 10 exp18 or 10 exp30. There is a mighty big difference.
How is it possible to give a precision of 3 significant figures for this estimate which requires such wide extrapolation from flight speeds and flying vehicles on which we do have data ?
Again, no justification is given for the precision of this estimate.
This assertion is incorrect. In the Orient, commercial interests have made sure that all such aspects of western culture which involve buying things have been infiltrated into local customs. Many Bhuddist and Shinto children in Japan, for example, will receive presents from Santa Claus.
The Christian tradition, in any case, does not have Santa Claus doing anything in particular on 24th Dec. His day is 6th December and, apart from occurring in the season of Advent, has nothing to do with the Christian Christmas.
That he still does deliver presents both then and at other times of year, demonstrates so very well that he uses methods not susceptible of analysis by Newtonian ( or even Eisteinian) mechanics. Children usually reach this conclusion between the ages of 4 and 6 (if boys ) or between 6 and 8 ( if girls ) and if they are wise children they keep quiet about their deductions. By the time they are between 13 and 14 ( if girls ) or between 30 and 40 (if boys ) they come to realise also WHY Santa uses indirect methods, and again, if they are wise children, they keep quiet about it.Alasdair McKay
I seem to recall seeing the mechanical analysis of Santa's flight done in a more convincing physically analytical manner many years ago. Doubtless it has suffered greatly by its frequent retelling in the hands of a populace whose scientific literacy is in serious decline.
Instead of addressing the flying reindeer problem in terms of Newtonian or Einsteinian mechanics, a more profitable analysis might much better be made in terms of a quantum physics having Planck's constant take a value many orders of magnitude larger than is more normal. Such a quantum physics has been discussed many years ago in the context of hunting quantum tigers from the backs of elephants, wherein the large elephant, by virtue of its great mass retains a fairly recognisable, if slightly fuzzy shape, whereas the lighter tiger exhibits true quantum behaviour by occupying a much larger space, within which its exact location is undefined. The hunting technique involves not taking aim but rather firing at random in all directions in order to increase the probability of achieving an interaction between the quantum bullet and the quantum tiger.
An analysis of the on-goings of even a tubby Santa by the methods of quantum physics wherein he might simultaneously inhabit the entire globe in the guise of a wave function will require but a minor amendment to the laws of physics quite as simple as one once made to the Fairy Law, as will be very well known to any afficianado of the Savoy Operas:
"let it stand that Planck's Constant be increased by the factor 10 exp40 , and there you are out of your difficulty immediately."
(paraphrased from .. The Lord Chancellor, "Iolanthe", W.S. Gilbert)
A generation which happily laps up at least half a dozen such tinkerings with our current knowledge of the laws of physics per Star Treck episode, will find such a minor annual temporary adjustment to be perfectly credible.