Funny you should mention, but around 2003 there was a post on the Mythbusters forum stating that they WOULD NOT touch anything 9/11 related. However, after millions of requests they finally had a press conference stating they WOULD in fact do a 2-hour special on 9/11. They even posted a teaser onto you tube. This was about 6-7 months ago.
However, the youtube video has been pulled and there is no new information if/when the 2-hour special will air. I hope it still will. I love that show!
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081206042759AAwqJ0Q
That one link I found about it in a quick search. There are a few others that state basically the same thing. However, I can't find the actual release they gave. :bandit:
I can't wait, 1/3 scale model, need to get away from USA due to avaition law, this sounds great! According to that yahoo link, that model sounds expensive but I'm glad they're doing it. When I wrote my post, I was speculating how difficult it would be to replicate the whole thing, with 1/3 model, it's easier to do as you don't need toothpick size steel beam as you shrink the scale, 1/3 size = less difficulty to replicate WTC but more expensive. Custom made aircraft! Woohoo! I really really hope they can air it and get it right (I remember a few debacles they made and can't retake due to expensive)
With all due respect this is the debate and discussion section of these forums, not the compassion and ad hominem section. Also I agree with you it's impossible for any of us to assume any educated stance on the happenings, but yet you even fell for that one with the jet-fuel*electronic equipment = melted steel theorem. I don't claim to be an expert and I agree it's hard to present facts especially with a lot of impartial and fudged information out there, but a few things about the whole event puzzle me.
Why did the buildings fall straight down and not topple?
It takes a team of trained experts to do this, I saw a documentary where they asked some demolition experts about this and they said it would be impossible, if not they wouldn't find it easy to get jobs.
Given the factors involved, I would like a more conclusive report myself. That's why I wish mythbuster can try to replicate it and make it more conclusive.
Why do buildings fall straight down and not topple? That's a good question, have you ever tried to topple building or make building fall straight down?
It's easier to make a sand tower fall "straight" down. You dig around the base evenly and eventually the weight of the sand on top will fall down.
If you want to topple something, it's easier to do with bulding material that's more "solidly together". Let's use a tree as an example. A lumber jack will cut the base, if you factor in the branch weight difference (tree does not always grow perfectly balanced on all sides), if you make one side a really really deep cut, chances are good the tree will "topple" towards that deep cut side, rather than "fall down" vertically.
As explained earlier, heat temperature does not need to reach melting point of steel and concrete by itself does not "melt" as it's a mixture of material, each with its own melting point. Steel strength starts to weaken before it reaches melting point. Steel is nto the only material exihibit this behavior. Take a candle, put it in hot/warm water, it may not melt, but now you can mold that softened candle like a playdo. The old solid candle that can withstand say 20KG of books on it without being crushed can be crushed like a pancake with the same weight of books (this is just arbitrary, you can experiment yourself to find the precise weight needed to flatten that playdo like candle, not melted, but not longer extremenly hard and solid)
As far as a team of trained experts, I am not saying they are wrong, however, here are the problems I can see.
Team of experts set to "implode" a building use controlled explosion to do it, why? Which is cheaper? Heat up the whole building and pray it will "implode" from weakened concrete structure, where steel is weakened enough and concrete is starting to lose its cohesion that the building will fall on itself OR use C4, dynamite, place them in support structure, then detonate them in the correct time & sequence to produced a controlled explosion that will guaranteed a nice imploded building?
Heat up the building then pray like WTC is too costly, and there is no guarantee building will implode nicely. C4 and controlled explosion is much safer and more guarantee, after all, that's what the experts are paid for. Why did we move away from wrecking ball to controlled demolition of buildings? Time? Cost?
Eyewitness reports including firefighters saw and heard explosions going off in the buildings.
Where have you seen the analytical reports of the steel that show no thermite, provide a source please?
From what I have garnered the steel was hurredly taken away by workers & firefighters who are mostly suffering from lung cancer because the site should have been quarantined while the dust settled and weren't even given gas masks. If you want to be humanitarian and compassionate about it they should be the first to take legal proceedings against the American goverment, if they already haven't. I don't think it's disrespectful of the people who died that way to discuss the shrouded events that happened, no more than it is for us not to discuss the tens of thousands of people in Iraq dieing and being maimed every week, by America. Death toll could be up to 500k in Iraq though estimates report 100k (those are only the ones who turn up in the morgue) mostly innocent civilans I might add.
Things can explode in a big fire and we had a big fire in WTC. Anything that is in a container, in a confined space, expand due to heat, may rupture the container and "explode". If the container is weak, rupture could be minor and the contents inside will escape early, it will be weak to no "explosion." On the other hand, if container is strong and content inside wants to expand greatly given the heat, there will be a huge explosion. Case in point? Put a can of soda in a car's dashboard or somewhere on a hot day where sunlight can reach it. Come back a few hours later, you get your little nice surprise. Do the same for plastic water bottle, you just get some hot water inside a bottle without explosion. The difference is carbonated water want to expand more and aluminum can is really constricting it. plastic water bottle is weaker and water does not want to expand as much in its liquid form.
America was caught by surprise, when 911 happened, are you saying firefighters, police, rescue personnel sit on their rear end and wait for proper mask to be issued before go in, help people out of the building (I remember the building was still standing for quite a while, allow evacuation), or after the building collapse, STOP removing any material from the site to preserve evidence while people trapped below, dying, suffering in pain?
I don't think it's realistic to ask the rescue crew to wait until everything is verified, confirmed before rushing in to rescue people. If your house is on fire, do you want the firefighter to show up, then give you a 100 page document, asking you item by item, do you have hazardous material? Oh, do you have this which may contain asbestos. Do you have any plastic that can release dioxin as it burns? What kind of plastic? Oh, sorry sir, maam, we cannot go in and put out your fire, nor rescue your baby & pets trapped inside the house, because after 3 hours, you finally finished that 100 page of check list, and we then spent 8 hours with our attorney and your attorney to verify and make sure you did not miss anything that could be hazardous or if you did, you are responsible to indemnify us for any damages, etc.
I hope you get my picture, it's an emergency, it's a crisis, time is running out for people inside WTC. We can now sit back and ask, gosh, I wish they preserve more evidence, but at that time, I think human lives are more important, don't you think?
see how people feel offended when you say something. Its better to be quite. We cannot change what happened anyway. So this debate is pointless I think.