Erica Wranich
@02105865
English 202 Research Paper
September 11 2001 Conspiracies
Where were you on September 11 2001, when you heard that a Boeing 757 crashed into the World Trade Centers in New York City? What about when a plane hit into the Pentagon that same morning? I’m sure everyone who just read the last two sentences is now recalling where they were. I was in my high school’s gymnasium, taking gym class. I thought it was a joke at first because it was such an unreal and unheard of thing to happen… Then once I saw it on the news I was in disbelief and shock. My mind first went to thinking about my family and where they were, and then I thought about all of the people in the buildings, as well as in New York City, Washington DC and Somerset.
My mom works in Pittsburgh, PA and was in Pittsburgh at the time of the events. She (along with the rest of my family) was worried because Pittsburgh is a larger city, and no one really knew what else may have happened that day. “The feeling of uncertainty and fear was overwhelming and unreal. It was like something out of a movie; everyone was just in shock and seemed to have a subdued overcast effect upon them”” (Mrs. Wranich, 15 February 2008). That was what she told me when I asked her what her emotions and thoughts were on that morning. Most Americans remember where they were and what they were doing when they first heard of the attacks on our country. This fact is an example of how much of an impact the attacks have had on each Americans life, whether it is realized or not. What I am attempting to research and explain is why there is a large misconception about the conspiracies surrounding the events of September 11, 2001.
The catastrophic happening of September 11, 2001 changed the way Americans live their lives. Longer lines at the airport, more strict security, and the unease of the unknown during the flights, are just a few examples… The attacks of September 11th led to a great decrease in the safety and security people were feeling. “It was never really said but people felt safe and often free of worries because they were living the United States not some other less stable country” (Mrs. Laura Delarosa, 15 February 2008). According to a study done by the Society for Human Resource Management, 64% of the people who took the survey felt that organizations have put higher security provisions in place. The survey also found that 48% of people feel that companies have higher expectations for security at the employer level (Society for Human Resource Management, 10 September, 2003). If the incidents of September 11 2001 never happened would there be such an increase in security? Shouldn’t the government already of had these newfound provisions in place for the safety and security of the American people?
With every incident that happens in life there is usually a conspiracy theory surrounding the issue. Conspiracy can be defined as a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act (Wordsearch.Princeton.edu 13 February 2008). In the case of the attacks on September 11, 2001 there are over many conspiracies that are being discussed on a daily basis. A conspiracy theory grows with more support for the conspiracy and its “debunking” of the official report. Debunking is the exposure of falseness or pretensions (Wordsearch.Princeton.edu 13 February 2008). This is the term many conspiracy theorist’s use in their literary work, when they feel as if they proved the official report/story wrong. In a poll done by CNN on 10 November 2005, (to 1000 Americans) it was found that 89% felt that there was United States government cover-up surrounding the attacks on September 11 2001 (Fetzer, page XVII). This is proof that people are unsure what to believe when something so mind-blowing and surreal occurs.
There is a multitude of reasons why people believe conspiracies about 9/11. The ones that I feel that are represented the most in research, are that people are skeptical that an insufficient amount of men (Osama Bin Laden/ Al Qaeda) could master such a large and upscale plot. A popular question is “Did 19 foreigners with box cutters really commit such an unlawful and unmoral crime?” People also believe because there is hidden knowledge to every situation, therefore having that unknown knowledge can lead to superiority and power in the field (Real Clear Politics, paragraph 8). These men and women who are strong supporters of the 9/11 Conspiracy Truth Movement often are the ones who are spreading the word through verbal communication and literature.
Why would the American government kill a reported 2948 people (not including the men and women still reported as missing)? (September 11 Victims). The most acknowledged speculation on why the American government would construct the events of September 11 is over oil and money. During a conference the Bush administration was quoted for saying how the events of September 11 provided opportunities. It was also compared to that of a new Pearl Harbor. Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense for the United States stated that “the kinds of opportunities created are ones that would offer to refashion the world” (The 911 Conspiracies: The Scamming of America, page 17). It created the coincidental chance for America to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. The invasions upon other countries allowed the military budget and the military forces (in general) to increase rapidly in size. The government also was able to introduce the new 2002 version of the National Security Strategy. The National Security Strategy is a new and improved policy that will permit the government to act upon any threat or emerging threats before they are put into action and are created completely (The 911 Conspiracies: The Scamming of America, page 17). This would allow the government to act upon any notion of another terrorist attack even if it was just a rumor or lie being spread.
This paper is designed and written to research and explain why there is a large misconception about the conspiracies surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. I have chosen one of the larger and more researched and discussed conspiracies to do my research project on. The first area of debate is if the World Trade Centers in New York City were filled with explosions, that lead to the eventual collapse. In my paper I will not be focusing on the events that happened in Somerset PA or in Washington DC. Although these events were important and monumental as well, I am focusing on one of the larger more intricate conspiracies that have a lot of smaller sub questions within the larger conspiracy. I am also choosing to do this, so when the reader is done reading this paper he or she will have no unanswered questions.
The conspiracy stated above, as well as all of the other conspiracies are being formed by everyday Americas… These Americans are average, every day people. They often are highly college educated men and women who feel that what society is being told is far from the truth about September 11th. Some of the larger names are Dylan Avery, Korey Rowe, and Jason Bermas, the main creators of the online video/DVD Loose Change, Loose Change: Second Edition, and Loose Change: Final Cut. James H. Fetzer PH. D. who is the author and editor of the book, The 9/11 Conspiracy. Along with these individuals, there are many groups that have formed to help in the 9/11 Truth Movement. The 9/11 Truth Movement is one of the names given to the groups of people, individuals, and societal groups who work to inform and educate others, often skeptics about the facts, and information relating to the conspiracies and controversies surrounding 9/11. The larger mission statement for the 9/11 Truth Movement is simply to fundamentally questioning the conspiracies given (that are already out there) not to create more (What is 9-11 Truth? The First Steps. Another large and influential group is the Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice. This group consists of men and women who have PhD’s in multiple fields, and who work together to hold conferences and rally’s as well as public works of literature online as well as in book form.
What brought down the World Trade Centers? The official report, also known as The 9/11 Commission Report, released by the government, states that the buildings were brought down due to the initial impact and force the planes had on the buildings structure (What is 9-11 Truth? The First Steps). The force that was applied to the building damaged the support columns, leaving the fireproof insulation as well as a large quantity of jet fuel to cover the floor and everything within the surrounding area, including multiple floors. (National Institute of Standards and Technology) The ignited jet fuel then covered numerous floors causing weakness in the support beams and floors causing a “pancake theory” to occur. A “pancake theory” also known as a truss failure theory, is the term engineers use to define a collapse that has evidence that the trusses under the floor in a building heat up faster than normal rates. This then leads to the floors to be weakened and collapse. This collapse of one floor then falls onto the floor under it (causing a chain reaction), which this act is repeated until the eventual collapse of the building (9-11 Research: Collapse Theories). The floors above the impact area came down due to the force and trauma of the floors under them collapsing (The 9/11 Conspiracy, The Scamming of America page 27). Below is a photo taken from The Attack on America website which shows how the building, collapsed inward, upon itself creating a large “pile” of rubble that once was building 7 of the World Trade Centers.
The photo to the left is from the Attack on America source.
This recall of why the buildings collapsed to conspiracy theorists is an over-sized, well formatted and formulated lie. One of the deceitful areas is when the government described how the jet fuel fires were hot enough to weaken the steel used to construct the World Trade Centers, causing a pancake collapse. The following is a close up photo of the fires that were in building 7 of the World Trade Centers, approximately around 3:00pm and on the 12th floor (9-11 Proof of Explosive Demolition without Calculations).
One of the most obvious problems is that steel does not begin to melt or weaken until 2800 degrees Farienheight, and the record high for jet fuel to burn is 1700 degrees F (The 9/11 Conspiracy, The Scamming of America page 27). So how could the steel trusses be weakened by jet fuel to be cause the collapse? The reason (according to conspiracy theorists) is a controlled demolition. A controlled demolition can be easily explained as the effective and correct placement of explosives through out a building at key points, usually points in the building were support is important. Then the explosives are detonated instantaneously causing no part of the building to be working against the force of gravity. This then leaves the steel and concrete as well as everything in the building to be crushed into small fragments as the building collapses. This type of demolition is easy to see because it is known for being safe, “clean”, effective and “smooth” (Attack on America).
Now most Americans are asking, “If the collapse of the World Trade Centers, also known as the twin towers was a controlled demolition then why isn’t there a lot of proof, and talk of it?” There is a lot of evidence that proves this theory. I interviewed my friend’s dad; Newark, New Jersey fire captain Mr. Michael Sorace. Mr. Sorace has been a fireman in New Jersey for over 20 years, he is the fire captain in Newark, NJ, the head of the rescue team, and teaches fireman training, as well as rescue squad training. Mike was heavily involved in the rescue and clean up of the events on September 11, 2001. He along with many firefighters has questioned the reason behind the twin tower collapse. I asked Mike to tell me about what he saw on September 11. He told me stories about seeing people die in pain from wounds, people falling out of the buildings to the street below, the chaos of people looking for familiar faces and many more heart wrenching stories. Along with the personal stories he told me, there was one about being in Building 7 rescuing people from the wreckage left.
”There we (Mike and his fire crew) were, in the middle running up
the stairs when we heard what sounded like professional
firecrackers going off all around us… We stopped in mid-step and
looked around to see where the sound was coming from exactly.
We went up to the next floor and opened the door and there was a
large fire with office debris thrown about the room. I didn’t think
about it at the time but now when I look back, why was the debris
thrown around the room if it was just a fire and why was there a
fire almost 20-30 floors below the site of implosion?” (Mr. Sorace
10, February 2008). “I wish I would have thought about what the
sounds were and why there was an irregular and abnormal fire
that day. I regret not looking into it more, yet at the same time that
saving lives of innocent Americans come first. After the initial
shock of the events of 9/11 my fire crew was encouraged to talk
about what they saw and what was understood to have happened
on that day, and the following days. The mystery of the explosive
“popping” sounds, the fires throughout the buildings, the eventual
collapse of the buildings, and the unusual scattering of large
business furniture still haunts most firefighters who were active in
the assignment. My crew and I were not the only ones who heard
the firecracker/explosive sounds… I still wonder to this day if it
was planned (Mr. Sorace 10, February 2008).
Mr. Sorace and his fire crew were not the only firemen who were surprised by the collapse of the buildings… “I’ve worked in Manhattan my whole career in high rises and everything else… you looked back, all you see-it just doesn’t click, how fast those buildings came down… you just cant believe that the buildings came down… there’s no history of these buildings falling down” (Lieutenant Warren Smith, Firefighter Interviews from the Journal of Debunking 9/11). That is a quote given by a New York firefighter telling of the peculiar collapse and how he was stunned by the occurrence. Other New York City firefighters on 9/11 told a reporter from USA Today that “On the last trip up a bomb went off. We think there were bombs set in the building.” The New York Department Chief of Safety said that “There were “bombs” and “secondary devices” which caused explosions in the buildings” (911 Proof). The majority of New York City firefighters, (approximately 503 men and women) who were on the scene that day said they heard what they thought and experienced to be explosions (Firefighter Interviews from the Journal of Debunking 9/11).
Along with first hand interviews from the firefighters who were at the scene there are visuals, such as recorded videos and photos that show “puffs” of smoke and debris coming from the side of the building, below the collapse area. The official report says that the “puffs” of smoke are the force of air caused by the floors above collapsing. The compressed air in the buildings (after it was hit) needed somewhere to go to relieve the pressure (National Institute of Standards and Technology). The air that was in the building escapes the building through windows, and doorways, anywhere that has a lesser value of resistance (A Critical Analysis of the Collapse of the WTC, page 5). That is why there is visual evidence of “puffs” seen below the large cloud of smoke and debris that was the collapse of the floors above. In the videos Loose Change, Loose Change: Second Edition, and Loose Change: Final Cut, there are videos that show the “puffs” of smoke and debris coming from the building. Below is a photo taken from September 11, 2001 that shows the “puffs” of smoke that have been described above. The photo is taken from Serendipity’s website, and it is of the North Tower, mid collapse.
Inside the red box is the “puff” of smoke and the blue line is approximately where the collapse is occurring. What can be seen is the “puff” of smoke, glass and other debris is below the line of collapse.
(Direct Evidence for Explosions, Journal of Debunking 9/11). Here is another example of the “puff” of smoke seen by KYLA News 5 cameras, as you can see in this photo there is another line of smoke appearing below the line of collapse formed by the floors above collapsing upon the floor below.
In this photo (also coming from the Serendipity’s website), its shows something unidentifiable by the human eye to be coming from the middle of the building. This projectile is coming from the middle of the building, many stories below the catastrophe above it. All three of these photos, and the many other photos like it, are what conspiracy theorists as well as concerned and intrigued Americans are looking at daily in order to start to place judgment on why the World Trade Center buildings collapsed that day…
Along with telling me the courageous story earlier in the paper, Michael also told me about the tragic stories about his fellow New Jersey firefighters who heroically lost their lives while doing their jobs… Saving American lives on American soil (Mr. Sorace 10, February 2008). One of the stories he told me was about a new firefighter, fresh out of training and new to the job.
“Luke was extremely excited and when 9/11 happened, he was at
the station waiting in full uniform with his gear already strapped
on. Being a fireman was his life already, he lived for it, and he was
the hero everyone imagined him to be.” Luke was on a separate
mission from Mr. Sorace when he passed away…
From what Michael was told, Luke was on an unspecified floor below the line of collapse when the floor suddenly collapsed in, crushing Luke instantaneously, killing him instantly upon impact…(Mr. Sorace 10, February 2008).
As heart wrenching as Luke’s story is, there are many more firefighters (approximately 343) who are reported missing, as well as ones that were killed on this catastrophic and unrealistic day (Firefighter Interviews from the Journal of Debunking 9/11). With all of this information (the visuals of smoke arising from floors below the line of collapse, and interviews with New Jersey and New York City firefighters telling of hearing and seeing the explosions) why wasn’t there a more throughout search for their fallen brothers? Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York at the time of the attacks, vocalized his want to decrease the number of firemen at ground zero (the site of the twin towers after collapse) recovering bodies of Americans, especially the surviving firemen’s brothers (Firefighter Interviews from the Journal of Debunking 9/11). This almost led to a riot between the city of New York and the firefighters of the attack, such including FDNY, and FDNJ. The following photo was taken the day that the riot almost occurred. This is important to visualize because then it is appropriate to question why…Why would we not want to find the heroic men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, to save strangers facing danger?
(Firefighter Interviews from the Journal of Debunking 9/11)
To this day 2498 American men and women have been killed due to this tragic and devastating occurrence. Were the acts of September 11, 2001 a true act of terrorism or a falsehood place upon the American society by our own government? There are a multitude of true stories, definitions and questions, in today’s society that is trying to explain what really happened. These ways of defining something against what an official report are called conspiracies.
The conspiracies of September 11, 2001 range from everything you can think of, from why did the World Trade Centers collapse? To was Al Qaeda really behind the terrorist attacks on that fateful day? Americans may never know if what the government is telling them is the truth or if it is one big lie constructed for years, with countless people involved, and with an alterative motive for war, oil and a large cash flow to be installed.
The official report (given by President Bush’s administration, the government) states that the World Trade Centers were brought down due to the force of the impact brought upon the buildings. The force of the building was brought down upon by the collision of large commercial airplanes, Boeing 757, 767. The collapse of the buildings is known as the “pancake theory” in which one floor collapses falling onto the floor below which causes a chain reaction, this leads to the eventual complete collapse of a building. This type of collapse is smooth, safe, and is often known for being seen in a controlled demolition… With a controlled demolition there is the correct and precise placement of explosions, also known as bombs, placed in certain areas of a building… These areas are ones that hold a lot of force and weight of the building. The explosives are then set off one right after another causing the floors to collapse inward and onto themselves, as what was seen with the twin towers.
Along with the impact of the plane the official report states the fires started and fueled by jet fuel weakened the steel support beams which when combined with the impact of the plane caused the collapse. The main problem with this theory given by the government is that steel does not weaken or melt at the low heat of which jet fuel burns. Jet fuel burns at 1700 deg F, which is not close to the 2800 deg F needed to melt steel.
Along with the unusual collapse of a building that was hit by two planes, there were visible “puffs” of air, smoke and debris caught on tape that have been seen many floors below the collapse line. These “puffs” according to government officials is the force of the air from the collapsing floors above. Conspiracy theorists state that the “puffs” of air, smoke and debris are the explosions of the explosions/bombs placed within the buildings to allow the building to fall down in a fast and safe form.
To help support the accusation of a controlled demotion bringing down the twin towers, there are numerous eye witness accounts from the heroic firefighters. Many of the firefighters that were at ground zero before the eventual collapse saw raging fires, and heard loud “popping” sounds coming from the floors below where the impact of the plane was.
What happened on September 11 2001, the world may never be completely certain about yet there are theories as to what really happened. It is a very personal and emotional decision that each American has to make on his or her own. I am presenting facts that question the official report, and facts that maybe close to proving everything we thought we knew was a large formulated lie, which makes all of the lost lives, a pawn in a game (played by the government) for control. The decision is now yours to make… Whether to believe what was force fed to you by the government or to question what we know and the evidence that is still appearing. Either way we may never know the truth, but finding a certain level of comfort comes with concluding what you believe. Do you believe that there are terrorist in far away countries planning on killing Americans, or are the terrorists in Washington DC planning on making their next move to gain more control over what they don’t have already…?
References: The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terror Attacks Upon The United States. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 2004 Blanchard Brent. “A Critical Analysis of the Collapse of the WTC 1, 2 & 7, From an Explosives and Conventional Demolition Industry Viewpoint.” Journal of Debunking 911. Volume 1: Issue 2. 8 August 2006. <http://www.jod911.com/WTC%20COLLAPSE% 20STUDY%20BBlanchard%208-8-06.pdf> Brocekers Mathias. Conspiracies, Conspiracies, Theories and the Secrets of 9/11.California: Progressive Press. 2006 “Collapse Theories: Theories Purport to Explain the Unexplainable.” 9-11 Research. 16 December 2007. <http://911research.wtc7.net/disinfo/collapse/index.html> “Credible Sources such as New York Firefighters and Law Enforcement Officers.” 9/11 Proof. 4 April 2007. <http://www.911proof.com/11.html> Delarosa Laura. Personal Interview. 15 February 2008. “Evidence for Explosives in the Twin Towers.” Serendipity. <http://www.serendipity.li/wtc5.htm> Fetzer H James. The (9/11 Conspiracy. United States: Catfree Press. 2007 “Firefighter’s Interviews- Sounds of Explosives of Explosive Sounds in the Towers.” Journal of Debunking 9/11.Volume 1, Issue 2. <http://www.jod911.com/sounds.pdf> Grabbe Crocket Ph. D. “Direct Evidence for Explosions: Flying Projectiles and Widespread Impact Damage.” Journal of 9/11 Studies. Volume 14. August 2007. <http://www.journalof911studies.com/ volume/200704/GrabbeExplosionsEvidence.pdf> Legge Frank Ph. D. “9-11 Proof of Explosive Demolition without Calculations.” Journal of 911 Studies. Volume 15. September 2007. < http://www.journalof911studies.com/volume/2007/ LeggeVerticalCollapseWTC7_6.pdf> Loose Change. Avery Dylan, Bermas Jason, & Rowe Korey. DVD. Louder Than Words Production. 2002 Loose Change: Second Edition. Avery Dylan, Bermas Jason, & Rowe Korey. DVD. Louder Than Words Production. 2004 Loose Change:Final Cut. Avery Dylan, Bermas Jason, & Rowe Korey. DVD. Louder Than Words Production. 2006 “National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster.” NIST: The National Institute of Standards & Technology. 30 August 2006. <http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm> Rowe Korey. Email to Erica Wranich. 28 February 2008. Russel Jerry, Ph. D. “Proof of Controlled Demolition at the WTC.” Attack on America. <http://www.attackonamerica.net/ proofofcontrolleddemolitionatwtc.htm> Ryan Kevin. “What is 9/11 Truth?—The First Steps” Journal of 9/11 Studies. Volume 2. August 2006. <http://www.journalof911studies.com/articles/ Article_1_Ryan5.pdf> September 11 2001 Victims. 9 August 2006. <http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims> Sorace Michael. Personal Interview. 10 February 2008 Word Search Net 3.0. 13 February 2008. <http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=conspiracy> < http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=debunking> Wranich Catherine. Personal Interview. 15 February 2008.
This is from my book “Fire in the Skyscraper” about why and how the Towers collapsed.
Reports of Controlled Demolition, Molten Steel, Thermite, Electromagnetic Rays, etc.
Many people interpreted the loud sounds and debris being projected out sideways during the Tower collapses as an indication that explosives were used to demolish the buildings. Most of these ‘explosive’ sounds, heard during the collapses were heard after the collapses began. The exterior walls can be seen bending and buckling inward in the videos of both Towers long before any sounds or ground vibrations occurred. In Tower 2, the exterior columns in the east wall were photographed bowing inward up to 10 inches, 18 minutes after the plane’s impact. That’s 38 minutes before the global collapse began. To be technical, you could say that Tower 2’s collapse began slowly, with possibly some noise or impact sounds from falling floors, about 38 minutes earlier than the official collapse time. The explosive sounds and expanding dust clouds occurred just after the east wall buckled inward and started the collapse, and not before the buckling, as would have happened with controlled demolition.
When the south wall of Tower 1 was photographed it was bowing inward up to 55 inches on floors 95 to 101, about six minutes before these columns were seen buckling inward. In the North Tower “thunder” sounds were heard when floors collapsed on the south side 12 to 14 seconds before the top of the building was seen to tilt southward and begin falling as a unit starting the global collapse. Since each section of floor on the long-span side weighed about 500 tons, I would explore these ‘explosive’ sounds in Tower 1 as evidence of a floor or floors detaching and impacting the floors below on the south side which most probably accelerated south wall failure. I believe all the supposed ‘explosive’ sounds can be explained by the impacts made by the collapsing buildings after the columns were pulled in and buckled by the bowing and sagging floors and when the floors themselves began impacting the floors below. The boom, boom, boom, boom, boom repetitive ‘explosive’ sounds reported by firefighters running as Tower 2 was coming down were most likely caused by the sequential collision of impacting floors. The great quantity of air on each floor being compressed in a fraction of a second by great weight and momentum would propel air, smoke, and any concrete dust and debris outward at great velocity.
Initial cause.
It is clear from the computer studies that the heat from the fires caused differential expansion of the steel parts in the long span, floor trusses with the resulting thermal bowing in some floors directly exerting pull-in forces on the exterior columns or this thermal bowing could have detached a floor which would have impacted the floor below destroying composite action by separating the concrete slab from the trusses and inducing strong tensile (suspension) forces in the double weighted floor. In other floors thermal expansion of the floor against the columns compressed the trusses which along with shear forces within the trusses buckled the diagonal struts collapsing the trusses which went into suspension (catenary action) and helped pull-in and eventually buckle the exterior column walls.
Differential expansion of the concrete and steel has also been shown to disconnect the knuckles from the concrete slab causing loss of composite behavior in the floors. All these adverse floor truss effects were caused by steel expansion which begins immediately as the steel is heated. Bowing and buckling can happen at low temperatures (400 C to 500 C) even before the steel would have weakened excessively from higher temperatures. Thermal contraction caused by cooling of the trusses after the fire burns out can cause strong pull-in forces on the exterior columns. Once the exterior column buckling spread,- possibly assisted by the spandrels,- along an entire wall on one face the towers began to tilt and the buckling spread around the towers exterior and into the core and with all the columns buckled the leaning top sections of the tower began to fall straight down.
Although the North tower antenna appeared from some northern angles to have fallen straight down it actually tilted to the south because the south wall buckled first and the cantilevered top building section pulled the core over to the south.
The South Tower’s top tilted to the east because its east wall buckled first. With the tower top tilting all the columns were out of alignment. Once the core columns got out of plumb, there would have been little resistance to their buckling at the weak splices. With the incredible weight of the top of the buildings gaining momentum, like a heavy wedge or sledge all it had to do was break the welded, and single bolt connections holding the floors to the columns. This coupled with the fact that the falling top sections momentum increases as the square of the number of floors impacted as the floors were detached and added to the weight of the descending top. There would have been little resistance to slow the top section’s acceleration to the ground. Because this acceleration due to gravity increased the speed and momentum of the collapsing floors and building top, the impacts would have been increasingly violent as shown on the seismic graphs increasing amplitude until maximum when the mass of accumulated floors hit bedrock seven stories into the cellar.
In order for a column to support the loads they have to be plumb and in line with the columns above and below. If they get out of alignment by 10 to 20 degrees they buckle and can no longer support the weight. The buildings collapsed because the floors first buckled from restrained thermal expansion and from thermal bowing or delamination of the slab and bar joists.affecting floor truss stability. The sagging floor trusses pulled in the 59 columns in one exterior wall and they eventually buckled. Once the buildings started to tip over from loss of column support on one side, the tremendous excess eccentric weight began buckling all the columns across the building. Once the tilted building’s tops began descending they hit the floors or columns at eccentric angles which easily detached the floors and buckled the columns. In order for the lower building section to offer any meaningful resistance to the falling building top the columns would have had to hit each other exactly in line and in plumb and this was impossible with the top leaning causing eccentric angles of impact.
The fact is that columns have to be axially (in line and centered) aligned to support the weight of the building above. Once the top building section began tilting the columns on the side that originally buckled did not line up at all. These columns would have been hitting the floors and would have easily detached or buckled them. After the south wall buckled in Tower 2 the adjacent perimeter wall columns buckled from overloads and the columns on the opposite west side of the building, which acted as a hinge would still be bearing on each other but at an eccentric angle which means they also would have also eventually buckled as the top tilted. These columns along with some of the core columns as they buckled are probably what kicked the bottom of the top building section to the west as reported by NIST.
With all the columns across the building buckled the top section began descending at an angle to the building section below. None of the columns would have been axially lined up. As the columns collided they would have hit each other at eccentric angles and easily dislodged, disconnected or buckled each other. Adding the accumulating collapsing floors and you have a release of incredible potential energy changing to kinetic energy and building momentum as the accumulating chaotic mass of debris accelerated into the cellars.
There have been some engineering analyses about the impacting floors slowing down the collapse so that the time to collapse should have been much longer than ‘free fall’ times of an object dropped from the towers tops. Since the Tower’s outer wall columns, especially in Tower 1, pealed out like a banana, they may have been able to break the connections to the floors ahead of the floors being impacted? In other words, with the weight of the wall columns pealing outward from the vertical along with the added horizontal forces of impacting floors projecting debris outwards onto these columns; these columns, while leaning out, might have been able to break the wall-to-floor connections ahead of the level of impacting floors? If this is possible than I believe that the connection failures could could have traveled down the sides of the buildings at a speed faster than free fall times. This might explain the rapid collapses especially in Tower 1. The wall-to-floor connection failures could have traveled down the building sides faster than ‘free fall’ times and in effect started the floors falling before they were impacted by the accumulating mass of impacted floors above.
The heavy exterior wall columns in the 1500 foot high builddings while pealing off could project the column sections outwards a great distance. This distance (500 feet) was proposed as only being made possible by explosive forces. I disagree. If a wall is strong enough and doesen’t break up as it falls it can fall out flat to a distance equal to its height.
Much has been made of the fact that NIST only analyzed the events up to the point where the Towers were poised to collapse before runaway collapse began and failed to pursue the remaining collapse. This was largely because after collapse began the chaotic impacts of the floors, walls and columns colliding could not possibly be analyzed accurately with even the strongest computers. It was a strain on computer capabilities to analyze the mechanism of collapse up to the point of runaway disintegration.
The compression of air in the elevator and air-conditioning shafts by the collapsing upper building section and floors, would project air, smoke, and dust down these shafts and out of the air intake or discharge openings on the lower mechanical equipment floors in the exterior walls. This accounts for the plumes of smoke seen projecting outwards from the buildings well below the collapsing floors. There were quite extensive vertical HVAC shafts built into the building. These shafts are connected to air conditioning exhaust and intake ducts open to the exterior on the mechanical floors. Collapse of these shafts would force the dust and smoke out these HVAC exhaust and intake openings in the side of the building.
The lightweight aluminum cladding’s breaking free from the buckling columns also would have been propelled outward a great distance by this expanding cloud of air and dust. This would account for huge dust clouds and pieces of aluminum seen projected outwards from the upper sections of the collapsing buildings. The light reflected off these aluminum pieces at the north wall of Tower 2 would be interpreted as flashes from explosive ‘squibs’. The flashes below the buckling east wall may have been from the aluminum cladding breaking free from the lower columns as they expanded after being unloaded of axial weight by the buckling of the wall above and their expansion breaking the connections to the cladding. Also explosives leave characteristic tears and fractures in steel, and such indications were not found anywhere in the debris pile.
After any fire in which a building collapses, there often remain deep seated, pockets of fire deep within the rubble pile These pockets of fire sometimes cannot be reached by water streams because of their being covered by debris. Air is sometimes drawn up from the bottom of the pile and feeds these inaccessible fires with air. The heat can become intense and can heat any steel in proximity of the fire until the steel is glowing red hot. These pockets of fire are common at burning building collapses and in no way evidence that that explosives or thermite were used to demolish the buildings.
These fires are similar to blacksmith fires where air is blown into the charcoals by a bellows to raise the temperature of the fire to heat a piece of steel or iron. The blacksmith can tell how hot the steel is by its color and can tell when the steel is soft enough to work it with a hammer.
These deep seated fires often have to be dug out by hand tools, back hoes or grapplers in order to expose the burning material for extinguishment. It is common to hold off hitting the fire with water until it is fully exposed in order to prevent the great amount of steam that would be created from obscuring the work area until the fire is fully exposed and can be extinguished. This is what is happening in the picture of a grappler pulling out a piece of glowing hot steel from the debris pile so often described as molten steel. Such fires are incapable of melting steel unless they are supplied with pure oxygen.
Pure oxygen is used in oxyacetylene torches to actually ignite burn and melt the steel when cutting. These torches were used to help clear the debris pile during search and recovery operations. A slag of melted and re-solidified steel and Ferrous oxide is formed on the opposite side of the cut. This slag formation was erroneously reported to be evidence of cutter charges having been used to sever the columns.
Much has been made of the presence of molten metal in the debris pile after the collapse. Presumably this molten metal was somehow connected to explosions or thermite charges, but there were Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) battery rooms on some floors of the Towers and Building 7. These battery rooms supplied continuous battery power to computers if the electricity failed for any reason. These batteries contained tons of lead which melts at low temperatures [327 C (621 F)]. The heat from the fires in the debris pile could easily have melted this lead or the aluminum from the plane which were probably the metals that were seen flowing through the pile. There were also quantities of lead, tin, and silver used in the computer circuit boards. NIST reported UPS in the 13th floor of Building 7 and the 81st floor of Tower 2. Additionally the EPA reported over 400 different chemicals in the dust and debris. These chemicals could easily be assembled conceptually to propose any type of chemical reaction imaginable including thermite reactions. In addition thermite reactions are rapid and wouldn’t last the hours or days at which times the molten metal was observed.
About the concrete destruction into dust; F.R. Greening did a paper called Energy Transfer in the WTC Collapse in which he says “the energy required to crush concrete to 100 μm particles is 1.9 × 1011 J, which is well within the crushing capacity of the available energy. Hence it is theoretically possible for the WTC collapse events to have crushed more than 90 % of the floor concrete to particles well within the observed particle size range.”
http://nistreview.org/WTC-REPORT-GREENING.pdf I would also investigate the possibility that the concrete was sub par due to freezing during curing or too much air or water having been added during construction.
The windows broken out and marble wall panels detached on the interior of the first floor lobby were probably because of torque forces experienced on the lower floor columns from the plane impacts many floors above. The reports of “explosions” in the cellars were also probably from such column displacements or from jet fuel ignitions in the elevator shafts. If you stick a stick into the ground and hit it with another stick most of the deformation will be in the ground around the bottom of the stick. There were reports of split walls and ceiling collapses on many floors after the planes hit.
In conclusion I think the reports of controlled demolition can be explained by sounds or sights produced by the plane impacts and jet fuel and air explosions; the sounds of the Towers collapse, – remember most of the people in Tower 1 did not know Tower 2 had collapsed and attributed the sounds of that collapse to be happening in the building they were in. When the interior of building 7 collapsed it would have produced explosive sounds before the exterior walls began collapsing.
Arthur Scheuerman