Light-speed Santa

Distance travelled by Father Christmas from Korvatunturi to all Finnish homes exceeds that of a trip to the moon and back

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By Timo Siukonen
     
      How is it possible for the Santa Claus of Korvatunturi in Finnish Lapland to visit every home in Finland on Christmas Eve?
      Helsingin Sanomat decided to look for an answer both seriously and less seriously.
      The work of Father Christmas is made easier if he could move at the speed of light – 299,792,458 kilometres a second. Dr. Tuukka Puranen of the information technology department of the University of Jyväskylä explains what would happen then.
     
When approaching the speed of light, the passage of time becomes distorted, as physicist Albert Einstein predicted when he published his theory of relativity in 1905.
      The distortion can be visualised with an example.
      If one of two clocks is placed on a table in a house, and the other is put on Santa’s sleigh, the latter will run slower in relation to the one that is stationary.
     
At light speed, Santa will notice that an eight-hour working day on his travel clock will pass much more slowly than that of the children, who have to wait for their presents for eight hours according to the clock ticking on the table.
      In fact, from Santa’s point of view, time stops completely.
     
According to Puranen, the theory of relativity solves the mystery of why only one Santa is needed, and that Santa can live forever.
      Sanna Kortelainen, managing director of Rovaniemi Tourism and Marketing Ltd., says that the ability of Father Christmas to reach all places is based on a secret.
      Naturally, the laws of physics and mathematics are also in play, but the final answer is in the magic of Christmas, which is known by Santa alone.
     
Puranen, who has written his doctoral thesis on the planning of transport systems, has pondered another problem linked with Santa’s travel.
      Although the planning of Santa’s travel routes is one of the most complicated problems in the world, Father Christmas has managed to solve it.
      Proof of this is that Santa manages to reach every Finnish home on Christmas Eve.
     
But how long a distance does Santa have to travel within the borders of Finland?
      Professor Jarmo Rusanen of the geography department of the University of Oulu compares the question with the classical dilemma of a travelling salesman, who knows where he needs to stop and the distances between the destinations, but who does not know how to choose the optimum route to reach all of the customers.
      The problem is easy to put forward, but difficult to resolve, Rusanen points out.
     
If Santa is supposed to visit 20 communities, he would theoretically have 60,822,330,204,416,000 different routes to choose from.
      Finland has 336 municipalities and 2.5 million homes. There are too many locations for a single optimum route to be chosen.
      Rusanen’s educated guess is that Santa’s route would cover 875,000 kilometres as the crow flies.
     
The distance of the dwellings from each other is an average of 350 metres. If the average distance were just 100 metres, the distance travelled would be just 250,000 kilometres.
      By way of comparison, the professor notes that the distance from the earth to the moon is 385,000 kilometres.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 21.12.2011


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Santa Claus is a strong brand (21.12.2004)

See also:
  A new home for Santa Claus goes up near Saariselkä in Finnish Lapland (20.12.2011)
  Is Santa Claus becoming an overworked seasonal jack-of-all-trades? (19.12.2006)
  Heavy demand in Brussels for services of Finnish Santa Claus (21.12.2004)

TIMO SIUKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
timo.siukonen@hs.fi