can jet fuel melt steel?

Question

what temp does it burn and what temp does steel melt

Answer 1

despite the answer that "somebody else" gave, gasoline burns at a much higher temperature than jet fuel, which is comprised mostly of kerosene.

And no jet fuel cannot burn hot enough to melt steel.Well, to begin, construction-grade steel melts at 2795 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s a proven fact, as can be seen from the website: http://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/fe.html . Meanwhile, according to a BBC report on September 13, 2001 entitled How the World Trade Center Fell, the WTC steel cores reached a temperature of 1472 degrees Fahrenheit, which, coincidentally, is the maximum temperature of jet fuel, but nowhere near the 2795 degrees needed to melt steel.

Fire has never caused a steel building to collapse.” Ever! In the history of the world, fire has never caused a steel building to collapse, yet on the morning of 9-11, Three of them did!

Also, the architect of the WTC buildings said that each one was designed to take the direct impact of 2 jet airliners.

Answer 2

Can Jet Fuel Melt Steel

Answer 3

A lot of people seem to be forgetting that the jet fuel wasn't being supplied the entire time from impact to collapse. It was mostly burned up in the impacts, consumed within a few minutes, creating incidental fires which were the source of most of the heat. And let us remember the basic fact on video that the fires were very weak, belching black smoke and not particularly widespread just prior to collapse. Also another important fact people love to forget is that the building was a giant heat sink. Where the fires were, of course the steel was getting hot, but it was being dissipated by the connections to all the other steel in the buildings through conduction.
Either way, fire could only ever cause localized collapses of the buildings, not uniform total loss of support, let alone exploding the building in all 4 directions while simultaneously and physics-defyingly maintain the energy to crush itself, completely, at the rate it did.
As far as the massive chunks of molten steel found beneath the rubble...well, that was most likely due to something besides jet fuel. Probably something more likely to have caused the collapses, something the buildings weren't already designed to withstand.

Answer 4

big brother is totally wrong, I'm afraid. Gasoline burns at a lower temperature than Aviation Kerosine.

Even so, even Gasoline can melt a steel bridge - this happened recently.

'Kerosene' (or 'Kerosine') is not the name of a chemical. It is the name of a family of chemicals. It is anything that only contains methane-chains with lengths 9 or greater. In America and Australia these are referred to as 'Kerosenes'. In England they are called 'Paraffins'.
Anything with only methane chains of length 8 or lower is referred to as a 'Gasoline' or a 'Petrol' depending on country.
The Gasoline that goes in petrol-driven aircraft is not the same Gasoline that goes in your car, it is a much higher grade - it contains much more 8-length methane chane molecules. Know what that molecule is called? You got it - Octane.
Hence 'High Octane' fuels.

The Kerosene that is used in Jet Liners is Jet-A1, or the military version that is almost the same is JP8. It is not the Kerosene you find in your garden shed, it is a much, much higher grade.

Bulk reply with references:

The factual data is surprisingly hard to find, but it's there. You really cannot trust anything you read in a forum or on wikipedia, it needs to come from a reputable source-

Jet-A1 aviation fuel, a *type* of Kerosene (Kerosene, or Kerosine, is a family, not a single chemical), burns at 2000 degrees Celsius.

Carbon steel will liquefy and flow at approximately 1400 degrees Celsius, and will be severely weakened well below that temperature.

I think a lot of the misconception comes from (possibly uneducated) american readers seeing '2000 degrees' and mistakenly thinking this means '2000 F' - about 1000 C - whereas of course it actually means '2000 degrees C'.

Jet-A1/JP8 (same thing) properties:

http://aviationsafetyadvisorygroup.org/projects-initiatives/resource-guide-to-aircraft-fire-fighting-rescue/

http://webserver.dmt.upm.es/~isidoro/dat1/eCombus.pdf

http://papers.sae.org/2012-01-1199/

Shell Aviation if you want to ask them in person:
mailto:[e-mail]

767's carry 90,000 litres of Jet-A1:
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/767family/pf/pf_200prod.html

Carbon steel:
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-temperature-metals-d_860.html

http://www.suppliersonline.com/research/property/metals/1011.asp

Answer 5

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
can jet fuel melt steel?
what temp does it burn and what temp does steel melt

Answer 6

No, jet fuel (kerosene) won't melt steel. How could you keep it in a can? :)

The maximum flame temperature increase for burning hydrocarbons (jet fuel) in air is about 1,000°C—hardly sufficient to melt steel at 1,500°C.

It is known that structural steel begins to soften around 425°C and loses about half of its strength at 650°C. This is why steel is stress relieved in this temperature range.

If this question is in regard to WTC, it is believed the collapse is indeed due to the temperature of the fire, introducing loss of strength due to the high temperature and loss of structural integrity due to distortion of the steel from the non-uniform temperatures.

Not because the steel melted.

Answer 7

I don't think that jet fuel can but I think we all know what happens when burning jet fuel meets steel!

Answer 8

Pools of molten steel were uncovered weeks after the towers had fallen. Don't be a sucker. Turn off the reality shows and open your mind.
Watch on HULU; 9/11 Explosive Evidence: Experts Speak Out

Answer 9

It looks like the other plane was intended to hit building 7.

Answer 10

In some cases jet fuel and gasoline can reach 2900 degrees. Steal, depending on the alloy, melts at between 1400 and 2100 degrees. OK?

Answer 11

I am not sure of this, however I know jet fuel burns other items,
that when combined can cause enough heat. Think back to the old blacksmith's bending melting iron. I know the implications of this question only an absolute idiot would think the WTC was planned. How anyone can believe in this needs to see a
brain surgeon.