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Photo: Thomas Hinton / Zuma Press / SCANPIX
Just before the two New York skyscrapers collapsed on September 11, 2001, powerful explosions within the building could be heard, leading many people to believe that overheated steel beams in the building were not the cause of the collapse.
The explosions fed the conspiracy theories that someone had placed explosives inside the towers.
At an international materials technology conference in San Diego, the audience heard senior scientist Christian Simensen of SINTEF Materials and Chemistry (picture) present an alternative theory based on the physics of materials of what happened in the towers when they were attacked by the aircraft. The SINTEF researcher believes that his theory is much more likely to reflect the actual situation than the official explanation of the collapse.
Credit: SINTEF
In the wake of the conference Simensen had an article published in the journal "Aluminium International Today", describing his theory.
Explosive meeting of molten aluminium and water
Simensen believes that it is overwhelmingly likely that the two aircraft were trapped inside an insulating layer of building debris within the skyscrapers. This leads him to believe that it was the aircraft hulls rather than the buildings themselves that absorbed most of the heat from the burning aircraft fuel.
The SINTEF scientist believes that the heat melted the aluminium of the aircraft hulls, and the core of his theory is that molten aluminium then found its way downwards within the buildings through staircases and gaps in the floor – and that the flowing aluminium underwent a chemical reaction with water from the sprinklers in the floors below.
“Both scientific experiments and 250 reported disasters suffered by the aluminium industry have shown that the combination of molten aluminium and water releases enormous explosions,” says Simensen.
Just before the two skyscrapers collapsed on September 11, 2001, powerful explosions within the building could be heard,
Photo: Jim Collins / AP / SCANPIX
“Explosions demolished the towers”
Simensen continues: “I regard it as extremely likely that it was these explosions that made the skyscrapers collapse by tearing out part of the internal structure, and that this caused the uppermost floors of the buildings to fall and crush the lower parts. In other words, I believe that these were the explosions that were heard by people in the vicinity and that have since given life to the conspiracy theories that explosives had been placed in the skyscrapers.”
Practical use
“Could your theory be used to protect human life and material values if other skyscrapers are ever hit by large aircraft?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact it could. One lesson is that we could develop means of rapidly emptying sprinkler systems in the floors under the point of impact. Another possibility would be to fire in a rocket carrying a fire-retardant that would overlie the aircraft body and prevent the metal alloy from becoming overheated.”
Day of unreality
It was in the morning New York time on September 11, 2001, when two Boeing 767 passenger planes flew into the World Trade Center’s “Twin Towers” in Manhattan in New York. One hour later, WTC2 collapsed, followed after half an hour by WTC1.
Neighbouring buildings were bombarded by flying debris when the towers collapsed. The 47-storey skyscraper called 7 World Trade Center also caught fire and collapsed several hours later at 17.20.
30 tonnes of aluminium
The official report on the causes of the collapse of the three buildings was drawn up by a commission appointed by the federal government and has since been supported by other publications. The report came to the conclusion that the collapse was caused by heating and failure of structural steel beams in the centre of the buildings.
“I believe that it is overwhelmingly probable that the theories regarding the cause of the collapse of WTC1 and WTC2 are wrong, but that the report very likely came to the correct conclusion as regards WTC7,” says Simensen.
“Why should we believe your alternative theory rather than the official explanation?”
“To put it as succinctly as possible: because the federal government commission did not take sufficiently into account the fact that the aircraft brought 30 tonnes of aluminium into each of the two towers.”
The collision
“What sort of evidence do you have for the theory that you are putting forward?”
“I base my theory on comparisons I have made with parallel observable phenomena in the world of physics. Let us start with what I think must have happened when the planes struck the two towers. They came in at high speed and at a low angle. The only similar phenomenon that we have any knowledge of is meteors that hit the Earth. What we know is that these drag material with them on their way through the soil layer. The whole surface, including all its pores, is covered by the material that they carry along. The innermost layer melts and turns into a glass coating on the surface of the meteor.
“I believe that similarly, the aircraft must have been covered by fragments of internal walls, ceilings and floors that collapsed around them and that the planes carried along with them as they penetrated the buildings. Much of this material was plaster, a material with extremely poor heat conduction capacity. All this debris probably formed a shield that kept the heat close to the aircraft and protected the rest of the building.”
Christian J. Simensen believes that the planes must have been lying in a sort of basin of material debris in the burning towers.
Photo: Thomas Hinton / Zuma Press / SCANPIX
The fire
“So you believe that it was the aircraft themselves that became superheated, rather than the buildings?
“Yes I do. The disintegrated aircraft probably came to a stop near the centre of the buildings. The materials along the track of the collision must also have burned. But the really hot zone was where the aircraft came to a stop. I believe that some of the aircraft’s fuel tanks must have suffered major damage, but that most of them would have been cut in two when they met the steel beams in the buildings, and that the development of the fire was therefore fairly constant.
“I believe that the planes must have been lying in a sort of basin of material debris, with the floor of the basin two or three storeys below the one that they ploughed into. The entire internal basin must have been heated by the burning fuel. Outside of the basin, the temperature would have been much lower.
“The aluminium alloy of the aircraft hulls, which also contains magnesium, melts at a temperature of 660 oC. Experience gained from the aluminium industry suggests that it may have taken between half and three-quarters of an hour to reach such a temperature. If molten aluminium is heated further to a temperature of 750 oC, it becomes just as liquid as water. I presume that this is what happened within the Twin Towers, and that the molten aluminium then began to run down into the floors below.”
The explosions
“What happened then?”
“All the floors in the Twin Towers were equipped with sprinkler systems. All the water above the hot aircraft bodies must have turned to steam. If my theory is correct, tonnes of aluminium ran down through the towers, where the smelt came into contact with a few hundred litres of water. From other disasters and experiments carried out by the aluminium industry, we know that reactions of this sort lead to violent explosions.
“The aluminium would immediately react with the water, with the result of a local rise on temperature of several hundred degrees, in addition to the explosions that were due to the fact that these reactions release hydrogen. Such reactions are particularly powerful when rust or other catalysts are present, which can raise the temperature to more than 1500 ˚C."
“Aluminium-water explosions are like dynamite explosions. They were probably powerful enough to blow out an entire section of each building", says Simensen.
Photo: Amy Sancetta / AP / SCANPIX
"The aluminium industry has reported more than 250 aluminium-water explosions since 1980. Alcoa Aluminium carried out an experiment under controlled conditions, in which 20 kilos of aluminium smelt were allowed to react with 20 kilos of water, to which some rust was added. The explosion destroyed the entire laboratory and left a crater 30 metres in diameter."
“Many people in New York reported that they had heard explosions just before the buildings collapsed. Film taken of the buildings also showed explosions in the floor below the impacts. Given that the amount of aluminium involved was large in comparison with the quantity of water, and since rust was probably also present, I believe that it is highly likely that the building collapsed as a result of a series of extremely energy-rich aluminium-water explosions.”
The collapse
“How could explosions in the centre of a building cause a whole tower to collapse?”
“Aluminium-water explosions are like dynamite explosions. They were probably powerful enough to blow out an entire section of each building. The top section would than fall down on top of the sections that remained below, and the sheer weight of the top floors would be enough to crush the lower part of the building.”
The neighbouring building
“What happened in the case of the neighbouring WTC7 building?”
“WTC1 and WTC2 took huge amounts of aviation fuel, fragments of steel and, if my theory is correct, large quantities of molten aluminium when they collapsed. When these materials and everything else fell some three or four hundred metres to the ground, they were squeezed between the upper and lower sections of the towers. This led to the neighbouring buildings being bombarded by hot particles, fuel and probably also aluminium droplets. Both large and small clumps of particles have since been found embedded in the walls of these buildings."
"WTC7 may have taken more of these impacts than the other buildings. At any rate, the building caught fire, which got out of control. In this case, the structural steel may have reached a temperature of more than 1000 oC, over seven hours, and the 13th floor collapsed in the course of a minute. In this case I do agree with the findings of the federal commission. Overheating of steel beams was probably the cause of the collapse.”
The way ahead
“Would it be possible to perform scientific experiments that can support your theory?”
“It would certainly be possible to look specifically for solidified droplets of aluminium and aluminium oxide in the walls of the neighbouring buildings. Experiments could also be carried out to find out whether fuel tanks are cut cleanly when they plough through a network of steel beams at a speed of 800 kilometres an hour. We could also test on model scale whether an object that ploughs through a room at extremely high speed becomes covered in debris from collapsed walls, ceilings and floors.”
Contacts and sources:
Story by Svein Tønseth
SINTEF
Read more at Nano Patents and Innovations
just an other theory to take the view away of gouverment involvement. anyone that follows the argumentation of architecs and engineer and other scientists and investigetors has enough arguments against this theory.
Molten steel – temps in excess of 1600°C (~2900°F)?!
Any further question Mr. Shill-theory?!
Explosions plus “pancaking” just does not hold – scientifically – logically – matter of common-sense!
did the burning aircraft go into building 7 as well????????
Even if it is true it still doesn’t change the fact that NO ONE mentions Building 7 went down. Most people still are completely unaware that there were 3 World Trade Center Buildings that fell that day except here and places many people have called “Conspiracy Theorists.” (Which means this theory and all others related to building 7 will never be mentioned and that makes me wonder: “Why not?”)
Bldg 7 wasnt hit by a plane and therefore “no melted aluminium”. I used to work in a foundry and yes spraying water on white hot metals is pretty dangerous, however when the metals are not in a confined space, ie “flowing freely” it doesnt explode everywhere with the power of dynamite because we used to spray the white hot steel as it came out. Result “steam and hot water”? Now if you confine molten liquid in a small space that allows a build up of pressure and put water in with it, you have a truly explosive situation. Molten aluminium flowing through a building with sprinklers on will not be an explosive situation.
Bldg 7 did not have the same situation as the towers so the same doesnt apply. NO AIRCRAFT HIT BLDG 7.
I am a blacksmith. Studied metallurgy. USAF vet. The amount of energy needed to keep steel in a molten/semi-molten state for 5-6 weeks is significant.
Since there was no focused heat source at the bottom of the rubble, where the molten pools were found, some sort of other catalyst had to be present either in the steel or directly adjacent to it.
There is so much about that day that we do not know.
What we DO know, however, is that it is a physical impossibility for many of the events of that day to have taken place in the manner or as explained by “the official story”.
The part that amazes me the most about that day, is the number of people that to THUS very day, absolutely vilify and revile anyone who dares question ANY aspect of those events. They are so quick to lump everyone, even the families of the victims seeking only answers to pertinent questions, into the same group they refer to as tin foil hat wearing nutjobs.
Since when did questioning seemingly impossible ‘facts’ become un-American?
The level of willful ignorance in this country is truly astounding.
Everytime I read a new bogus disinfo theory about 9/11, I go to AE911truth.org and make a donation.
Elements of our mafia terrorist “government” did 9/11. The only real problem now is finding an honest prosecuting team that are not afraid of the truth.
I can’t believe this guy could present this with a straight face. The tiny bit of aluminum from the skin of an airplane vaporized one million tons of structural steel and concrete? I’d like him to explain also the seismically recorded explosion that took place in the basement of the WTC several seconds before the first plane hit.
Let’s not forget about the heap of evidence from 90% eye witnesses that never saw a second plane! Second plane, always grey, and nobody looked up to the sky until the “bomb” exploded in the South Tower. So from hard evidence… There was no plane for the stupid sprinkler system. Just like there was no fricken Boeing at the Pentagon.
I don’t know if I should be pissed off with this idiot or show this to anyone with more than half a brain cell, so that they could have a real good laugh at this utter ridiculous crap. We shouldn’t piss ourselves laughing near aluminium though, just now we might bring down another 110 story steel structure!
The most rediculous explaination was in Kay’s book reviewed on this site, where he states:
“In some cases the law’s of physics and engineering logic do not apply” WTF ??
We tend to believe that there is no such thing as magic, only
deception and things not understood.
i made this video to convince the sheeple in our lives. feel free to share it with friends and family over the thanksgiving holiday. there are links in the “show more” under the vid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWv9K1D1WY0
Very good points made. I didn’t see anyone mention that thermite (used in demolitions) was found in the debris. Take a look at the way the girders were cut. Classic demolition.
This type of ‘theory’ is so absurd it is beyond the confines of logical science and well within the confines of criminality. This man should be prosecuted as an accessory after the fact. As a 22year Journey Ironworker (Local #433 and #509) and L.A. City Certified Structural Weldor I must say I find it laughable that anyone even believes that roughly 100 tons of aluminum ribs and skin (its not even a solid tube) can even penetrate the 4100 TONS OF STRUCTURAL STEEL AND STEEL REINFORCED CONCRETE that make up ONE FLOOR of the WTC towers. Any physicist that refuses to address the impact dynamics should be treated with skepticism IMMEDIATELY. I tell you one thing if I was a Boeing exec I would market the 757/767 models as bunker busters. This clown also fails to address the massive amount of energy required to reduce the structure to 100 microns.
What a load of crap! More of the corpratocracy-banker elite trying to layer the truth with disinfo in an effort to delay the inevitable. Ancient Chinese Proverb… One often meets their destiny on the road to avoid it.
They’re grasping for straws here! Can’t get away from the fact something exploding dropped the buildings! Still one LARGE problem! Jet fuel in a low oxygen environment (as in a almost closed building, with a big fire inside, for a long time) does not get hot enough to melt aluminum! Try again! Maybe the dog did it!
And there was nobody at the conference who queried, which aircraft aluminium blew up Building 7? What kind of conference
was that?
It’s not revealed if it’s just a theory. Bloody scientists & learned people can’t use words that don’t mislead. No wonder the world is such a mess!Sick of that.. Scientists speculating & then speaking like it is fact when they’re ONLY GUESSING!!
It’s no longer a ‘conspiracy theory’ that the twin towers underwent a controlled demolition on 9/11. That is now a resolved fact. (see above comments representing a cross-section of people’s opinions). Nobody who considers the facts concludes comes away with the opinion that two planes destroyed those 3 buildings.
What remains unknown is who and why.
I have an opinion on who and why. I am of the opinion that George Bush wouldn’t go along with those trying to tell him what to do. So “they” (the unseen ‘powers that be’ pushing for a world government) took down the towers with conventional techniques and possibly even advanced weaponry, to convince George W. Bush to go along with their agenda.
W (and his advisers) figured out that this gave them a wild-card to attack whoever they pleased so long as they could connect them with the twin towers incident. So they chose dad’s old nemesis, Saddam Hussein.
The rest is history. The lamestream media took up the jihad to discredit Bush at every opportunity from that point forward demonstrating that he had fallen out of favor with the PTB.
Not that I like Bush, the Patriot Act is one of the most repressive pieces of legislation ever, but he may be the last president who had America’s best interest at heart.
Unless we can get Ron Paul into office.
They found residue of nanothermite, which is MUCH more likely to have done it.
Totally Bogus… Micro Thermate is a military grade product and has been found on the roofs and streets around the complex plus on what steel was left to examine. Most of the plane fuel burnt off in a cloud of fire outside the building plus kerosene would never burn hot enough to melt steel. When you follow the train of evidence you will find the explosions rippled down thou the building and the bottom level main columns were all cut at a 45 degree angle. I was at one time in the building demolition business and I know a controlled demo when I see one. I know exactly how they did it and when plus their motivation. I would also think they will sacrifice a city soon and my bet is Chicago.
Think of this, if you can smuggle a ton of cocaine into the country you can do the same with a nuclear device. At last count there was over eighty tons of cocaine coming into the country per year and the rumor is Iran is working with the Mexican cartels.
who is this IDIOT working for?? Needn’t say no more .
Aluminium + water !!! lol fool! The CIA could have just driven a lorry full of aluminium cans of fizzy-pop into the the WTC and Pentagram buildings instead of going to all that trouble
The criminals had thermite on each beam to go off therby melting the beams into. Thermite burns over 4000 degrees. These people behind that mass murder should all be rounded up and executed as soon as possible.
Please, please please, can everyone look at the footage again and notice how the large sections that fall disintegrate into dust before they hit the ground. Wheres the large mound of ruble that should be left! and before anyone says it collapsed into the underground car park, the car parks were still intacted. Isn’t that strange?
Don’t even entertain any theory that implies Bush jr was a good guy. It simply doesn’t even enter into the realm of possibility.
Bush Jr demonstrated in concrete terms what he was all about. His defining characteristics include the Patriot Act, kidnapping, secret prisons, torture, murder, rape, molestation, theft, massive corruption, free speech zones and too many other crimes and warcrimes to count. History will show this immature man to be a pariah on human society — a modern Caligula.
Trace the connections of this so called expert scientist. Out of the blue this line of investigation strikes him .It sthinks of a put up job!!!!!!!!!!!Eddie Kaber South Africa
The aluminum from the plane mixed with water and exploded? It takes a lot of heat to melt it as this is why they use an electric arc furnace to melt it.
This jerk should be put on TV so everyone can have a good laugh then kick him out of his field for being either a liar of a complete idiot.
CIA agent to scientist, “Sign this theory.”
Scientist, “But this theory is ridiculous.”
CIA, “Sign, or I’ll have your funding cut off.”
Scientist, “I’ll sign anything. Please don’t cut my funding off. Maybe the sheeple will believe this one.”
Earth to CIA, “WE know the government had it done.”
it is very easy to prove that this theory is just desperate Bankster BS. Just do it again. Let me see you drop another skyscraper straight down in it’s own footprint with Aluminum and water. In fact, that means we have tons of explosives lying around with all the aluminum drink cans.
Try again, Moron.
“Posted by Anonymous on 23/11/2011 8:56
Lets not forget about the heap of evidence from 90% eye witnesses”
Thats as big of a joke comment as the article you posted it on!
Im pretty sure you don’t even have half a brain cell! Anybody who believes the no plane @ the world trade centres theories is a crackpot with an IQ less than a 5th grader!
How much did they pay this guy to come up with an explanation compatible with the “official” version.
Too many people call themselves “scientist” this days. When in fact are either scholars or mercenaries with a title.
It’s great to see so many people not buying into the bs.. CONGRATS!!
yes, the truth will set us free.
tyrants can go away.also, i like how someone mentioned building parts turned to dust before hitting ground.
i saw that too.
lots of anomalies of that when you look into it.
on that lame-o who said some people didn’t see a second plane.
fail
waste of humanity
This is old news, did not click last time and it will not click this time. Go stick your head up your bum you may just come up with a better idea somewhere there. Good luck
He probably gets paid well or he has his head in the sand or he is a puppet and under orders of the ESSUMM ( Elite Secret Societies of Unseem Mad Men ).
The thing I find most disturbing about all this is the total lack of respect given to the intelligence of normal people. It seems to me that they believe that they can say and do anything. With 30 years in heavy industry I know that steel does not disintegrate in seconds, especially steel of that size. I needed no other proof that something was very, very odd about what happened in New York that day 10 years ago. And thats the rub after 10 years to be still getting this rather sad attempt at misdirection after all the other misdirections, blatant lies, witness deaths and denials tells us that this is not going to change anytime soon. Sometime ago I saw video footage of the ceremony at the 9/11 site and the people arranged in the shape of the all seeing eye and wondered at their audacity. Perhaps its time to occupy 9/11.
The duhhhhhming down of America was openly begun in 1963, Dallas TX Dealy Plaza, when the Cabal killed President Kennedy. The real target was to have been his brother Robert, but two old men in Tampa got the message from Hoffa wrong in their elderaged Mafia minds. They soon corrected that mistake. There were several Fed agencies who gladly jumped in pon the killing of the POTUS. America believed the lies, and so began the operations to do a ten yr. war in S.E. Asia. As that one ended, we bagan to do litle wars of choice covertly. The stage was set for wars in the middle east to coincide with the Antrax scare to profit one big money bag boy Rummy. Here we are, in the 2nd millenium broke and broker. Oh, yes, there are about 400 American families who are rich and richer. Those opposed to truth want to believe the lies of the Sept. 11. 2001 set up. The truth is always against the lies. Will 12/21/2012 reveal the whole truth or just destroy the liars ? Start with the lies being debunked, like the denial of the cordite used to bring the three towers down. Then move over reptilians, the humans will not allow the lies of your existence to continue. Is America now riddled with ignorant and crazy people ? Hel lyeah, and the facts belittled as lies too will soon make y’all nutty ones very very uncomfortable. ~Namaste Y’all.~
They could not hide the shaped charge, that could not have happened with alu explosion, Thermite..
Everyone likes to talk endlessly about things that have no relevance any more. The TTs came down, and Amerika immediately goes into a country that had nothing to do with it. Then a few more. 9-11 was ten years ago, people. Forget it. There’s a nuclear war staring you in the face, and you’re still living in a sepia picture on your mammy’s dressing table.
For those of you ( two of you, actually ) that noticed the towers turning into soda fountains in mid-air, and realised that that doesn’t happen through thermite, thermate, nuclear, biological, aluminium, whatever, you need to read Judy Wood’s book, “Where did the Towers Go?”. All your answers are there. We don’t need a New Investigation. And btw, this Scandinavian bozo doesn’t say how car engine blocks and door handles that were half a mile away, managed to disintegrate at the same time. And why they were in many cases only half-burnt. And immediately went rusty. Or why there was a massive magnetic anomaly recorded nationwide at the exact moment the second tower got its hole. Note, I did not say “was hit by an aeroplane”. Or why, if there was a seismic trace seconds before the event, as a result of an explosion in the basement, there was no considerably larger seismic event to mark the Towers hitting the ground a few seconds later. Or why it was that a category 3 hurricane ( Erin )sitting just off the NY coastline on that day was not in the news. Ever.
“9-11 was ten years ago, people. Forget it.”
Forget it? What kinda of bs is that? When your grandkids ask what you were doing to preserve our freedoms during this time, are you gonna tell them you were urging people to “forget 9/11″?
No. Never forget. Ever.
“9-11 was ten years ago, people. Forget it.”
I agree and disagree with this…. people DO need to remember but they also need to put as much energy into researching whats happening today as they are putting into 9/11
I agree that a bigger war is staring Americans in the face… not necessarily nuclear but something sinister is brewing…
Some other anomalies in this ongoing saga that just will not lie down.
Why? very little is mentioned of the fact that Donald Rumsfeld chose the day before 9/11 to announce that the Gov.t couldn’t account for 2.3 TRILLION Dollars. Knowing full well that this Blockbuster news story would be buried by the dreadful events of the following day.
Or, Why? Very little is made of the fact, that vast sums of money were made by certain people “in the know” in the Weeks/days prior to 9/11 through the sale of put options. (betting on the fall of the shares of the two Airline Companies involved).
Or,Why? Very little is mentioned of the contents of the Black Box flight recorders from the four aircraft that were hijacked. For all four to have been destroyed would be a staggering coincidence.
Or,Why? Very little is mentioned of the fact. That the steel from Ground Zero was dispatched overseas (China), with unseemly haste. This was after all a crime scene.
I like the theory, isn’t there an NEW space craft engine that uses aluminum as fuel, if there isn’t there should be !
BUT, alas he needs to do more homework, his theory does not explain the implosion of building 7 !!!
Hell it’s time to get the responsible you tube Dr. Alan Sabrosky and you judge.
The flights carry time bombs. Some of the bombs are thrown away from the flights during WTC impact, jumped to building 7. Waiting few hours and then exploded!!!
QUACK!
After seeing her older twin brothers turn to dust, WTC7 just couldn’t go on, and collapsed in on herself due to a broken heart.