Engineering of towers

[The Mister]

<font size=2>Yes, the towers fell, but thank God for small things: they fell DOWN, not OVER.
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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: The Mister on 2001-09-12 17:17 ]</font>

[Me]

I'm with you on that one, TM. [I have to admit that I'm no longer in such awe of the demolition experts that implode buildings.]

I really am surprised that the Towers didn't fall over and take out buildings three blocks away. I was equally impressed by WTC 7 falling straight down. I have increased respect for structural engineers.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

In order for them to fall over, they'd need to be hit a lot lower. Wasn't the outside of the structure its main support, instead of the traditional core structure?

My original thinking is that I can't believe they fell so quickly. The engineers must have been thinking ahead to the day it would have to be demolished, and pre-made it to fall with minimal effort from demolishinists.

Second thought is that there were probably large water tanks on the top of the buildings (for sprinklers and firefighters, and probably toilets), and that they accelerated the destruction when their supports were finally compromised.

I wonder if the terrorists knew this would happen, or did they think that a hole in the building would be an effective statement? Now there's nothing left but a memory.

[Me]

I read an article that said the engineer of the WTC towers said just last week that he designed them to withstand a 707 flying into them.

In the same article it was theorized that the reason they collapsed so quickly was that the sprinkler / fire extinguishing systems got disabled somehow. The fires in the buildings were burning hot enough to melt the steel, causing the colapse.

Personally, I'm guessing the terrorists got a pleasant surprise when both towers actually disintegrated into nothing. I mean, how many people in the world would know that that was going to be the result.

I think the feeling was, "this went too far".

I'm sure the terrorists didn't know they would collapse so quickly.

The reason they burned so well had nothing to do with the sprinkler systems. They were irrelevant. The fire was due to the jet fuel on board, which is notoriously hard to put out. Even in the Pentagon, they're still trying to douse the fire.

[G. Ringo]

Does anyone think that the United States should work on developing a jet fuel that burns at a temperature below the melting point of steel?

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Yeah GG, as soon as cold fusion is available.
It burns hot because that's more efficient. Probably cleaner, too.