Creative Speculation
In reply to the discussion: The Great Thermite Debate... [View all]eomer
(3,845 posts)I don't see how you can separate the temperatures from the rest of the model and still be left with anything.
And if you take away the models then NIST is left saying nothing at all. Everything they say is based on these models, the ones with the higher temperatures.
In a way I'm with you -- I think the models are highly suspect, especially the higher temperatures that NIST boosted up without justification other than to get the result they wanted. So I would also propose taking the higher temperatures out and I believe there are some professionals who have proposed the same. But when you do that then you are left without any model that shows collapse and the NIST conclusions all fall away.
Edit to add: Below is an even shorter explanation from NIST for why the towers collapsed. NIST mentions both the temperatures reached and the weakening of columns in this short list of things that worked together to cause the collapse. If you take away those elements then you start from scratch without any models and need to realize you are merely speculating without any foundation.
Based on its comprehensive investigation, NIST concluded that the WTC towers collapsed because: (1) the impact of the planes severed and damaged support columns, dislodged fireproofing insulation coating the steel floor trusses and steel columns, and widely dispersed jet fuel over multiple floors; and (2) the subsequent unusually large number of jet-fuel ignited multi-floor fires (which reached temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius, or 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit) significantly weakened the floors and columns with dislodged fireproofing to the point where floors sagged and pulled inward on the perimeter columns. This led to the inward bowing of the perimeter columns and failure of the south face of WTC 1 and the east face of WTC 2, initiating the collapse of each of the towers. Both photographic and video evidenceas well as accounts from the New York City Police Department aviation unit during a half-hour period prior to collapsesupport this sequence for each tower.
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