Man Demonstrates A Big Flaw In 911's Jet Fuel Argument

[jimnyc]

My bet? This is George Bush in disguise, and the temperatures are off. No way in hell that steel can bend or give way like that!!

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/embed/89295" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[CSM]

"your argument is invalid...get over it....find a job" is now going to be my standard reply to any of my opposition in Debate Policy.

[Perianne]

I remember going to a construction site with my husband. They were spraying stuff on steel beams. I asked him what it was for. He said it was insulation for the steel. I asked why steel need to be insulated. He said if there was a fire the steel would soften and would not support the heavy weight it was designed to support. He said it would fail and THAT was why the World Trade Centers failed. The crash removed the insulation and exposed the steel to the heat.

[Elessar]

I remember going to a construction site with my husband. They were spraying stuff on steel beams. I asked him what it was for. He said it was insulation for the steel. I asked why steel need to be insulated. He said if there was a fire the steel would soften and would not support the heavy weight it was designed to support. He said it would fail and THAT was why the World Trade Centers failed. The crash removed the insulation and exposed the steel to the heat.

Yet conspiracy theorists still insist it was an inside job or
something the U.S. Government schemed up!

[Little-Acorn]

(patiently)

Steel in the WTC didn't melt.

It got hot enough that its modulus of elasticity changed - meaning, it became a little more springy, though it was still nowhere near its melting point.

So the loads built in top of it, which used to cause it to bend only a little (as per the original design), now caused it to bend a little more before the springiness of the steel stopped it. And that was enough bend to move the load off-center and make a longer "lever", causing the same load to now exert more bending force. Which caused it to bend a little further, and then a little further, etc., until it went past the point of no return and collapsed.

This phenomenon is called "static instability", and is well known to any structural engineering student or professional.

It's only unknown to wild-eyed conspiracy theory fanatics.

Hopefully this explanation will keep the fanatics quiet for another period of time, until they feel enough people have forgotten about it that they can "reveal" their "new" conspiracy yet again as though it were true.

[Perianne]

(patiently)

Steel in the WTC didn't melt.

It got hot enough that its modulus of elasticity changed - meaning, it became a little more springy, though it was still nowhere near its melting point.

So the loads built in top of it, which used to cause it to bend only a little (as per the original design), now caused it to bend a little more before the springiness of the steel stopped it. And that was enough bend to move the load off-center and make a longer "lever", causing the same load to now exert more bending force. Which caused it to bend a little further, and then a little further, etc., until it went past the point of no return and collapsed.

This phenomenon is called "static instability", and is well known to any structural engineering student or professional.

It's only unknown to wild-eyed conspiracy theory fanatics.

Hopefully this explanation will keep the fanatics quiet for another period of time, until they feel enough people have forgotten about it that they can "reveal" their "new" conspiracy yet again as though it were true.

Thanks, @Little-Acorn for the technical explanation. My husband didn't go into such details, but what he did tell me was enough for me to understand that every object has its limits. Even steel.

I have often wondered if the Arabs anticipated what would happen or did they just want to crash planes into big buildings and got lucky.

[aboutime]

If all of the known conspiracy theory junkies got together, and asked a Blacksmith to bend the SHOES for their Horses, or to make steel fences, and gates. What temperatures would they expect NOT to get if the Horse SHOES remain....STRAIGHT?????

[sundaydriver]

I never understood why some people thought the steel supports would have to melt for a heavy weight building to collapse. Steel becomes supple at less than half the melting temperature at which it changes crystal structure from ferrite to austenite which is at a lower temperature than burning jet fuel. Fun times in a metallurgical lab as a lab tech playing with fire.