I saw this yesterday and was so flabbergasted I didn't even know what to say.
I'm no structural engineer, but damn...how stupid do you have to be to come up with this "experiment"?
The immediate, obvious thought that I had was "Um...weren't the twin towers kind of tall and skinny, rather than short and squatty? I seem to recall some sort of concept called "distribution of weight"...oh yeah, I learned it in, like, 4th grade.
I'm glad you didn't link to it. This idiot doesn't deserve the attention.
The greatest problem wasn't with the shape of the load-bearing structure or the accuracy of the scaling. It was that there was no attempt at all to ensure that his scaled-down fire reached the same temperature. If the temperature had been high enough to soften steel, the wire cage would have gone down, but you don't usually get anywhere near that temperature from a small fire burning in the open. You need either an arrangement like a welding torch, with forced fuel and oxygen feeds converging on a very intense little flame, a stove that holds the heat in with a chimney that provides a strong draught, or at an absolute minimum he would need bellows plus a high-temperature thermometer to check how well it was working.
In the WTC, there's no doubt at all that the temperature was high enough. That was a huge fire, and the building itself helped to hold the heat in and funnel more air through. The only issue is whether the heat should have penetrated the insulating materials around the main steel members that quickly. I think analysis showed that if the airplanes had hit lower down where the insulation included a thick layer of concrete around each main steel piece, the buildings would have stood for hours longer. They'd have probably still come down eventually as heat soaked through the insulation, but everyone could have been evacuated. However, the upper floors had lighter insulation, and it's likely that the collision knocked holes in it.
Astonishing. I first thought about discussing the physics of the thing, scaling issues such as how fire size affects temperature, but this experiment doesn't warrant it. His fire doesn't even cover the wire. Dude believes it because he wants to believe.
A true idiot. But a quick glance ( all I could stand ) at the resulting thread showed a lot of denizens of that site also thought it was shite. Maybe there's a little hope.
I remember exactly the timing of the events that morning.
I walked into the office about 5 minutes after the first plane hit. That was enough time for my mother to call me, as she was watching the news. I got what little info there was at the time about the situation, and turned on a TV we have in the office.
It took me all of about five minutes to see all that I needed to know. I KNEW that the fire inside the north tower was much larger than most could really appreciate from the camera coverage they were getting (8 to 12 floors on fire, easily 100 feet of flames), and I my first thought was, "They have to get that fire out, or the whole building is coming down."
About that time, the second plane hit the south tower, and in a much more advantageous location for what those bastards had planned. I immediately knew it was going to go down sooner than the north tower.
Back to the point. I can not believe the temerity of this asshole. He sets up what he thinks is a telling model and pronounces its outcome as some sort of fact. I wonder what his qualifications are. I know that he has none, but he believes the results nonetheless.
I really don't worry about the terrorist bastard sumbitches anymore, I KNOW where they stand.
What I am more worried about is the attitude that this asshole is spreading. We are going to have to put down these folks one of these days like the rabid dogs that they are.
There are people out there who are so desperate to hate Bush and prove 9-11 was completely his fault their result to any lies they can find. THis piece of junk science is just one example of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Consider it the symptom of a mental disease for which this person needs treatment.
Just bloody pathetic. Small fire, no enclosure to both hold heat in and give a chimney effect...
Pathetic.
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JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2006/07/she-bush-turned-me-into-newt.html (9 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
I saw this yesterday and was so flabbergasted I didn't even know what to say.
I'm no structural engineer, but damn...how stupid do you have to be to come up with this "experiment"?
The immediate, obvious thought that I had was "Um...weren't the twin towers kind of tall and skinny, rather than short and squatty? I seem to recall some sort of concept called "distribution of weight"...oh yeah, I learned it in, like, 4th grade.
I'm glad you didn't link to it. This idiot doesn't deserve the attention.
The greatest problem wasn't with the shape of the load-bearing structure or the accuracy of the scaling. It was that there was no attempt at all to ensure that his scaled-down fire reached the same temperature. If the temperature had been high enough to soften steel, the wire cage would have gone down, but you don't usually get anywhere near that temperature from a small fire burning in the open. You need either an arrangement like a welding torch, with forced fuel and oxygen feeds converging on a very intense little flame, a stove that holds the heat in with a chimney that provides a strong draught, or at an absolute minimum he would need bellows plus a high-temperature thermometer to check how well it was working.
In the WTC, there's no doubt at all that the temperature was high enough. That was a huge fire, and the building itself helped to hold the heat in and funnel more air through. The only issue is whether the heat should have penetrated the insulating materials around the main steel members that quickly. I think analysis showed that if the airplanes had hit lower down where the insulation included a thick layer of concrete around each main steel piece, the buildings would have stood for hours longer. They'd have probably still come down eventually as heat soaked through the insulation, but everyone could have been evacuated. However, the upper floors had lighter insulation, and it's likely that the collision knocked holes in it.
Astonishing. I first thought about discussing the physics of the thing, scaling issues such as how fire size affects temperature, but this experiment doesn't warrant it. His fire doesn't even cover the wire. Dude believes it because he wants to believe.
A true idiot. But a quick glance ( all I could stand ) at the resulting thread showed a lot of denizens of that site also thought it was shite. Maybe there's a little hope.
Quick! Get the "Mythbusters" guys on the phone!
I am an architect.
I remember exactly the timing of the events that morning.
I walked into the office about 5 minutes after the first plane hit. That was enough time for my mother to call me, as she was watching the news. I got what little info there was at the time about the situation, and turned on a TV we have in the office.
It took me all of about five minutes to see all that I needed to know. I KNEW that the fire inside the north tower was much larger than most could really appreciate from the camera coverage they were getting (8 to 12 floors on fire, easily 100 feet of flames), and I my first thought was, "They have to get that fire out, or the whole building is coming down."
About that time, the second plane hit the south tower, and in a much more advantageous location for what those bastards had planned. I immediately knew it was going to go down sooner than the north tower.
Back to the point. I can not believe the temerity of this asshole. He sets up what he thinks is a telling model and pronounces its outcome as some sort of fact. I wonder what his qualifications are. I know that he has none, but he believes the results nonetheless.
I really don't worry about the terrorist bastard sumbitches anymore, I KNOW where they stand.
What I am more worried about is the attitude that this asshole is spreading. We are going to have to put down these folks one of these days like the rabid dogs that they are.
There are people out there who are so desperate to hate Bush and prove 9-11 was completely his fault their result to any lies they can find. THis piece of junk science is just one example of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Consider it the symptom of a mental disease for which this person needs treatment.
I still like what one DU commenter said..
If this guy's experiment were true, we'd be making skyscrapers out of chicken wire and concrete pavers.
Just bloody pathetic. Small fire, no enclosure to both hold heat in and give a chimney effect...
Pathetic.
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>