-Caveat Lector- Engineers offer insight into scientifics of attack Sacramento Bee By EDIE LAU, Sacramento Bee SACRAMENTO, Calif. (September 11, 2001 10:21 p.m. EDT) - There was an eerily choreographed look to the way the twin World Trade Center towers tumbled down Tuesday. Almost, thought Garth Huber, as if they had been brought down by a hired demolition crew rather than unknown terrorists." The way it was going down floor-by-floor really looked suspicious," said Huber, a physicist at the University of Regina in Canada who watched video footage repeatedly. It's not known now and may not be clear for some time, what all the destructive forces were that brought down the world's fourth largest skyscraper. But several structural and civil engineers, a national security consultant and a demolition expert say that the jet plane fuel tanks packed sufficient energy to cause an explosive fire hellish enough to melt the building's steel skeleton and cause its floors to collapse, one-by-one, from the top down. "An aircraft fully fueled is essentially a giant flying bomb," said Steven M. Block, a Stanford University professor of applied physics and U.S. Defense Department consultant. "It's not clear if these terrorists had inside information on how to bring down a building or just picked a target of opportunity," Block said. "I suspect the ignition of the fuel produced heat sufficient to melt the core of the building." The 110-story towers, which collapsed shortly after two commercial aircraft plowed into the upper stories, were the most prominent features of the 12- million-square foot World Trade Center complex, which was completed in 1988. The building was designed by the late Minoru Yamasaki, an architect known for putting a premium on aesthetics. The towers' thick steel supports were almost entirely located on the outside of the building like an exoskeleton and were designed to withstand hurricanes. The building also withstood a previous attack by terrorists who in 1993 detonated a bomb-laden truck in an underground garage at the edge of the complex. That explosion killed six people, injured more than 1,000 and blew a crater in the garage five stories deep. But the cleaned-up complex was reoccupied three weeks later. Monday's attack was different. The first tower, hit by an American Airlines Boeing 767 around 8:45 a.m. EST, collapsed shortly after 10 a.m. The second tower, hit by a United Airlines Boeing 767 shortly after 9 a.m., collapsed around 10:30 a.m. "Keep in mind, the building was hit with a projectile, moving hundreds of miles an hour, filled with explosive - the fuel," said Melvin Ramsey, a professor of structural engineering at the University of California, Davis. "That can damage a building where it can no longer sustain itself." Russell Turner, an officer of Cal-Neva Construction Services Inc. in Sacramento, said that if the collapse of the twin towers resembled an implosion, it probably was because the building was pulled down by its own weight - a force used in demolition. But the power that brought down the skyscraper was far greater than any explosives ever used by demolition crews. By the calculation of Block, the Stanford physicist, the energy packed by one fully-fueled Boeing 767 jet is 40 times as great as the biggest non-atomic bomb ever dropped by the United States. Bee staff writer Stephen Magagnini contributed to this report. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
