Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Steven Jones published in a peer-reviewed journal.

A paper written by Steven Jones and others has finally been published in a peer-reviewed journal. It has been a long time coming, but it was something that was bound to happen eventually. This publication seems to have sent some in the debunking community into an apoplectic rage. This is understandable because their strongest argument against us was the argument from authority. Once this argument is lost the best they can do is engage in ad hominem attacks.

The paper contains 14 points in which the 9/11 Truth Community, FEMA and NIST(National Institute of Standards and Technology) find agreement. This seems like a good starting point. The differences emerge when we get into a discussion over the causes of the collapse of WTC 1,2 and 7. These are the 14 point of agreement:

1) WTC 7 Collapse Issue. FEMA: “The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the total diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence. Further research, investigation, and analyses are needed to resolve this issue”

2) Withstanding Jet Impact. NIST: “Both WTC 1 and WTC 2 were stable after the aircraft impact, standing for 102 min and 56 min, respectively. The global analyses with structural impact damage showed that both towers had considerable reserve capacity”

3) Pancake Theory Not Supported. NIST: “NIST’s findings do not support the “pancake theory” of collapse, which is premised on a progressive failure of the floor systems in the WTC towers… Thus, the floors did not fail progressively to cause a pancaking phenomenon”

4) Massive Core Columns. NIST: “As stated above, the core columns were designed to support approximately 50% of the gravity loads” “The hat-truss tied the core to the perimeter walls of the towers, and thus allowed the building to withstand the effects of the aircraft impact and subsequent fires for a much longer time—enabling large numbers of building occupants to evacuate safely”

5) Essentially in Free Fall. NIST: [Question:] “How could the WTC towers collapse in only 11 seconds (WTC 1) and 9 seconds (WTC 2) — speeds that approximate that of a ball dropped from similar height in a vacuum (with no air resistance)?” [Answer:] …As documented in Section 6.14.4 of NIST NCSTAR 1, these collapse times show that: “… the structure below the level of collapse initiation offered minimal resistance to the falling building mass at and above the impact zone. The potential energy released by the downward movement of the large building mass far exceeded the capacity of the intact structure below to absorb that energy through energy of deformation. Since the stories below the level of collapse initiation provided little resistance to the tremendous energy released by the falling building mass, the building section above came down essentially in free fall, as seen in videos”.

6) Fire Endurance Tests, No Failure. NIST: “NIST contracted with Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. to conduct tests to obtain information on the fire endurance of trusses like those in the WTC towers…. All four test specimens sustained the maximum design load for approximately 2 hours without collapsing

7) Fires of Short Duration. NIST: “The initial jet fuel fires themselves lasted at most a few minutes.” “At any given location, the duration of [air, not steel] temperatures near 1,000 °C was about 15 min to 20 min. The rest of the time, the calculated temperatures were near 500 °C or below”

8) WTC Fires Did Not Melt Steel. NIST: “In no instance did NIST report that steel in the WTC towers melted due to the fires. The melting point of steel is about 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,800 degrees Fahrenheit). Normal building fires and hydrocarbon (e.g., jet fuel) fires generate temperatures up to about 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,000 degrees Fahrenheit). NIST reported maximum upper layer air temperatures of about 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit) in the WTC towers (for example, see NCSTAR 1, figure 6-36)”

9) Destruction of WTC Steel Evidence. NIST: “NIST possesses 236 structural steel elements from the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings. These pieces represent a small fraction of the enormous amount of steel examined at the various recovery yards where the debris was sent as the WTC site was cleared. It is estimated that roughly 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent of the 200,000 tons of steel used in the construction of the two towers was recovered.” “The lack of WTC 7 steel precludes tests on actual material from the structure…”.

10) Unusual Bright Flame and Glowing Liquid (WTC 2). NIST: “An unusual flame is visible within this fire. In the upper photograph {Fig 9-44} a very bright flame, as opposed to the typical yellow or orange surrounding flames, which is generating a plume of white smoke, stands out”.

11) High-Temperature Steel Attack, Sulfidation. FEMA (based on work by a Worchester Polytechnic Institute investigative team): “Sample 1 (From WTC 7)… Evidence of a severe high temperature corrosion attack on the steel, including oxidation and sulfidation with subsequent intergranular melting, was readily visible in the near-surface microstructure…. Sample 2 (From WTC 1 or WTC 2)… The thinning of the steel occurred by high temperature corrosion due to a combination of oxidation and sulfidation. …The severe corrosion and subsequent erosion of Samples 1 and 2 are a very unusual event. No clear explanation for the source of the sulfur has been identified… A detailed study into the mechanisms of this phenomenon is needed…"

12) Computer Modeling and Visualizations. New Civil Engineer: "World Trade Center disaster investigators [at NIST] are refusing to show computer visualisations of the collapse of the Twin Towers despite calls from leading structural and fire engineers, NCE has learned. Visualisations of collapse mechanisms are routinely used to validate the type of finite element analysis model used by the [NIST] investigators. …"

13) Total Collapse Explanation Lacking. NIST: “This letter is in response to your April 12, 2007 request for correction… we are unable to provide a full explanation of the total collapse.”

14) Search for Explosive or Thermite Residues. From a NIST FAQ: [Question: ] “Did the NIST investigation look for evidence of the WTC towers being brought down by controlled demolition? Was the steel tested for explosives or thermite residues? The combination of thermite and sulfur (called thermate) "slices through steel like a hot knife through butter." [Answer: ] NIST did not test for the residue of these compounds in the steel”.

It can be seen from the above examples that NIST has failed miserably in their attempts to explain the collapse within the confines of the official story. By only going up to the point of collapse initiation they absolve themselves of having to deal with the obvious evidence that explosive charges were used to destroy the towers. A real investigation should cover the entire collapse, not just the initiation. Will we ever get a thorough and complete investigation?