A very good read.

[--Pete]

Hi,

After thinking about it some more, the WTC tower collapses do look like something out of a demolition documentary, which I've seen a number of.

Of course they do, given that it is the same process. 'Demolition' doesn't mean 'blowing up' as the average person thinks. Very little explosive is used only to cut the supporting members. Without support, gravity brings everything down. That is exactly what happened at WTC, only somewhat slower. The heat from the fires, combined with the initial stress from the impact, weakened the support members to the point they could no longer resist gravity. The main difference from a planned detonation was the speed and that the start of the collapse was up high rather than at the base of the structure. Once the failure point was reached, the two processes were nearly identical.

As an aside, anyone who faults the designers of the WTC for failing to consider the potential effects of a huge jet fuel fire is an idiot and a true argument for retroactive birth control.

--Pete