ResearchGate
Extremely high temperatures during the World Trade Center destruction
January 2008
Authors:
Steven Jones, Jeffrey K Farrer, Gregory S Jenkins, Frank Legge et al.
Abstract
In an effort to better understand the conditions that led to complete collapses of the World Trade Center Towers and WTC 7, we apply scanning-electron-microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (XEDS) methods to analyze the dust generated, with an emphasis on observed micro-spheres in the WTC dust. The formation of molten spheres with high iron contents along with other species in the WTC dust required extremely high temperatures. Our results are compared with those of other laboratories. The temperatures required for the molten sphere-formation and evaporation of materials as observed in the WTC dust are significantly higher than temperatures associated with the burning of jet fuel and office materials in the WTC buildings.
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6. Discussion [Fahrenheit temps in brackets added by editor]
The temperatures required for the observed spherule-formation and evaporation of materials observed in the WTC dust (table 1) are significantly higher than temperatures reachable by the burning of jet fuel and office materials in the WTC buildings (table 2). The temperatures required to melt iron (1,538 °C [2,800°F]) and molybdenum (2,623 °C [4,753°F]), and to vaporize lead (1,740 °C [3164°F]) and aluminosilicates (~2,760°C [5,000°F]), are completely out of reach of the fires in the WTC buildings (maximum 1,100 °C [2012°F]). We wish to call attention to this discrepancy: the official view implicating fires as the main cause for the ultimate collapses of the WTC Towers and WTC 7 (FEMA [13], NIST [15] ) is inadequate to explain this temperature gap and is therefore incomplete at best. The formation of numerous metal-rich spherules is also remarkable, for it implies formation of high-temperature droplets of the molten metals, dispersed in the air where they cool to form spherules. As displayed in figures 3 and 4, we observe spherules with high iron and aluminum contents, a chemical signature which is not consistent with formation from melted steel.
The data provide strong evidence that chemical reactions which were both violent and highly-exothermic contributed to the destruction of the WTC buildings. NIST neglected the high-temperature and fragmentation evidence presented here: it appears nowhere in their final report [15]. Proposed new building codes based on the WTC disaster must address all available evidence for what caused the complete and rapid destruction of these skyscrapers. Understanding the mechanisms that led to the destruction of the World Trade Center will enable scientists and engineers to provide a safer environment for people using similar buildings and benefit firefighters who risk their lives trying to save others. Thus, a thorough investigation which considers these data, showing extremely high temperatures and severe fragmentation in the formation of small metal-rich spheres during the WTC Towers destruction, is highly motivated. In particular, the repeatedly-delayed report on the destruction of WTC 7 on 9/11/2001 [21] should address these striking facts.
References
[13] http://www.fema.gov/library/wtcstudy.shtm , esp. Appendix C, http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_apc.pdf
[14] P. Asanti and E. J. Kohlmeyer, Z. Anorg. Chem., 265:94 (1951).
[15] National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2005). “Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers.” S. Shyam Sunder, et al. (available at http://wtc.nist.gov)