....about what really happened to the steel? I would think if you build a building like the WTC, you would over-build the specs just to make sure.
2007-02-15 11:28:32 · 4 answers · asked by pozitive thinking 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Could I please have the name of the company or investigators?
2007-02-15 11:57:35 · update #1
there is only one company did that beside the US goverment i forgot the companys name
2007-02-16 00:56:20 · answer #1 · answered by koki83 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. The intense heat from the fire caused the steel to lose strength and the floors "pancaked" one on top of the other.
Notice I did not say that the steel "melted". Steel melts at about 1500 degrees F, however it does start losing strength significantly at about 700 degrees F and beyond that point it is pretty useless structurally.
The WTC did have fireproofing sprayed on the steel beams, however the sheer impact force of the collision with the jet knocked out the coating off the beams. Add to that the fact that sprinkler lines were severed.
After that, the WTC was pretty much doomed and the catastrophic collapse that followed was inevitable.
PS: Just in case. I am a liberal, democrat and I disagree with Bush and his policies. I think the man is a moron and bad for America. However, I am a licensed structural engineer and I have to see the WTC collapse from an objective, rational perspective.
Whether the WTC attack "was allowed to happen", we may never know, but I do not buy for a second the "controlled demolition theory". The WTC was hit by planes and it fell down because of the fire, end of story. Oh! And yes, I have a first cousin who was at work at the WTC on 9/11/2001, he was lucky and survived, thank God.
2007-02-15 20:41:34 · answer #2 · answered by Humuhumunukunukuapuaa 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes I actually saw a show on discovery about this. They have studied the steel. The heat from the fires caused the support trusses ( the beams that held up the floors) to twist and warp. This caused the connection points at the main structural (vertical) columns to fail. The result was the floors falling in on themselves causing the pancake effect. The building was built to withstand an impact from the largest commercial aircraft of the time, a 737. Remeber it was built in the early 70's. But it was the heat from the fires that caused the collapse.
2007-02-15 19:51:09 · answer #3 · answered by mhog68 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ironically, you're right about overbuilding, but in the worng decade, or part of the world.
Today the most ambitious buildings are in southeast asia (indonesia, china, etc.) but they are built to withsatnd the seismic hazards there. Those hazards are far more significant that an airplane impact.
2007-02-16 00:33:42 · answer #4 · answered by mt_hopper 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋