IJMC - Physics Wins Again!

Here we go again, but Santa lives! And this proves it. Sorry about the 
past few days, I had lots of stuff to send out that was all Christmas 
related and whatnot, but well, it's not my fault the system went kaput 
for four days. The IJMC is back, and Netcom won't tell me what happenned 
(it was only the Majordomo that died, not the whole kit-n-kaboodle) so 
who knows. But we're back, and I'm gonna skip the rest of the holiday 
cheer...after this that is. Happy Holidays and here's looking at New Year's!
						-dave



Dave, I received your forward from 12/22.  I have received that email
before, however, mine had included an extra section to the email.  This
added section refutes that argument using quantum physics.

I have included it in the forward.  Santa LIVES!!!

Terrence Oblak

--------------------------( Forwarded letter 1 follows )---------------------

Some time ago, someone had posted an article saying how the existance
of Santa Claus was impossible.  I took this article and sent it to a
number of friends on campus.  Somehow, it got to one of the professors
on campus by the name of Ted Davis.  He wrote the following reply.

.......................................................................

Dear Mr. Crowell:

The analysis you sent me about the death of Santa Claus, based on
classical physics, is seriously flawed owing to its neglect of quantum
phenomena that become significant in his particular case.  As it
happens, the terminal velocity of a reindeer in dry December air over
the Northern Hemisphere (for example) is known with tremendous
precision.  The mass of Santa and his sleigh (since the number of
children and their gifts is also known precisely, ahead of time, and
the reindeer must weigh in minutes before the flight) is also known
with tremendous precision.  His direction of flight is, as you say,
essentially east to west.

All of that, when taken together, means that the momentum vector of Mr
Claus and his cargo is known with incredible precision.  An elementary
application of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle yields the result
that Santa's location, at any given moment on Christmas Eve, is highly
imprecise.  In other words, he is "smeared out" over the surface of
the earth, analogous to the manner in which an electron is "smeared
out" within a certain distance from the nucleus in an atom.  Thus he
can, quite literally, be everywhere at any given moment.

In addition, the relativistic velocities which his reindeer can attain
for brief moments make it possible for him, in certain cases, to arrive
at some locations shortly before he left the North Pole.  Santa, in
other words, assumes for brief periods the characteristics of tachyons.
I will admit that tachyons remain hypothetical, but then so do black
holes, and who really doubts their existence anymore?

Hence, to sum up my reply: Yes, Virginia, there is a Bob Knight, and
there is an Indiana.  Now, what were we talking about...?

Yrs sincerely,

E.B. Davis, Ph.D., A.B.D., I.D.I.O.T., Fellow