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Dec 25, 2007 6:36 pm US/Central

How Does Santa Get That Big Job Done?

Reporting
Mike Parker

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Santa Claus is probably ready for cocoa and a nap, after his big trip!

Ever wonder how he dashes around the world so fast riding that sleigh like rocket?

CBS 2's Mike Parker explores the science behind the magic of the jolly old elf.

Five-year-old Daniel Abamov believes with certainty, despite claims from some cynical scientists that it's impossible for Old St. Nick, Santa, Father Christmas, the man known by many names, to sweep through the night skies with his reindeer on Christmas Eve, making hundreds of millions of children's wishes come true around the world.

Scientists calculate that Santa has one thousandth of a second to park, go down the chimney, fill the stockings, eat the cookies and milk and move on to the next house. If that sounds tricky, consider this, Santa's sleigh must be moving at 3,000 times the speed of sound, and the sleigh must carry at least 321,000 tons of toys.

When CBS 2 polled a couple of kids on how Santa could get all that stuff in his sleigh, they were mystified. That's right. Nobody knows, but somehow it happens. And it's not just kids who believe. Ask the not so cynical scientists at Norad. They track him along with those eight tiny reindeer every year. And some not so cynical parents follow Santa's path too.

"Me and Cameron checked the website and where was he last night? He was in Russia about seven o'clock," Jay Borns said. Asked if Santa's real, Borns said, "absolutely."

"He violates all the rules of physics and mathematics but he gets the job done. He does get the job done. He makes our live easier," Tracy Borns said.

Maybe the man who wrote of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll had it all figured out when he said, "Sometimes I've believed in as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Those "cynical" calculations were figured out in 1990 and published in Spy magazine.

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