Kenetic Energy, Column Bowing and the "Progressive Collapses" of WTC 1 and 2

Originally posted by 2PacSade
What in your opinion, if not the resistance of the structure, caused this horizontal/projectile motion of debris?

I'm not sure. Torque maybe. I'm not a dynamasist, so I'd really be the wrong person to ask. That's a lot of energy though to have intact exterior columns flung 600+ feet.

There is enough prof of demoltion, this is a good link below that sums it up .

911research.wtc7.net...

Originally posted by Griff

Originally posted by 2PacSade
What in your opinion, if not the resistance of the structure, caused this horizontal/projectile motion of debris?

I'm not sure. Torque maybe. I'm not a dynamasist, so I'd really be the wrong person to ask. That's a lot of energy though to have intact exterior columns flung 600+ feet.

I agree. A lot of energy. Torque could be a source of added potential, but wouldn't it take a massive collapse of the core columns to allow for this?

That could account for it. Imagine if the core is failing first. It would pull the floors with it. Maybe some of that moment created flung the exterior out? I don't have a scanner to show it graphically but basically it would turn the exterior columns into cantilevered beam-columns. Thus adding a new moment to the columns. The same can be said about the core columns when the exterior columns were severed by the plane. That would add more moment to the system. I'll have to do some calculations to see how much moment (torque) would have been added. Anyone have the NIST photo of the damage from the plane? I want to go column line by column line and see what the added torque would be. Ah, so much to analyse. I still have to look at the drawings for Damacles. Anyway, in two weeks, I'll have more time.

Originally posted by Griff
That could account for it. Imagine if the core is failing first. It would pull the floors with it. Maybe some of that moment created flung the exterior out? I don't have a scanner to show it graphically but basically it would turn the exterior columns into cantilevered beam-columns. Thus adding a new moment to the columns. The same can be said about the core columns when the exterior columns were severed by the plane. That would add more moment to the system. I'll have to do some calculations to see how much moment (torque) would have been added. Anyone have the NIST photo of the damage from the plane? I want to go column line by column line and see what the added torque would be. Ah, so much to analyse. I still have to look at the drawings for Damacles. Anyway, in two weeks, I'll have more time.

I can picture the torque produced. That's why I asked.

The core fails first, in three sections. The mechanical floors being the transfer point from one phase to the next. The floors ripple a wave outward as they are pulled down from the core. The exterior columns torque, breaking rivots & eject outwards.

Originally posted by Griff

Originally posted by 2PacSade
What in your opinion, if not the resistance of the structure, caused this horizontal/projectile motion of debris?

I'm not sure. Torque maybe.

Whatever it was, I have trouble believing it was some sort of outwards-directed, extremely high-force physical collision that happened to affect the majority of the mass involved. Snapping at the truss/perimeter connections makes more sense, but I can't honestly say that I buy that either.

Try to imagine the conditions necessary for such a mechanism to result in this:





Even a high-explosive acting on the columns would only present a local force lasting only milliseconds before dissipating. The amount of time mass is accelerated by any force is critical to its final velocity once the force has dissipated, and then drag kicks into effect. The energy of high explosives goes to cutting anyway, not physically displacing large masses by imparting lateral force.

[edit on 7-4-2007 by bsbray11]