The World Trade Center Was Built To Sustain Worse Damage

KE of Boeing 767 at 243 m/s**

(0.5) · (179,170 kg) · (243)2= 89,585

= 5,289,904,665 Joules*

**NIST reports the impact speed of Flight 11 at 440 mph (198 m/s) and the impact speed of Flight 175 at 540 mph (243 m/s).

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As is readily observed in the above calculations, the kinetic energy unleashed upon the towers by the impacts of Flights 11 and 175 fell well within the capabilities of the towers to withstand such trauma. The towers were built to survive the impact of a Boeing 707 traveling at 600 miles per hour (270 m/s). The kinetic energy of such a strike would unleash 5,554,980,000 Joules. Although the Boeing 767s that struck the towers on September 11, 2001 were each approximately 59,000 lbs. (26,770 kg) heavier than the Boeing 707s the designers of the towers had based their calculations on, the reduced airspeeds of the impact aircrafts over-compensated for this greater weight, resulting in less kinetic energy expended.

The kinetic energy expended in the first strike on the North Tower by Flight 11 is calculated at a shockingly low 3,512,090,340 Joules, far below the 5,554,980,000 Joules the towers were designed to withstand and survive. The greater velocity of Flight 175 (540 mph or 243 m/s vs. 440 mph or 198 m/s for Flight 11), resulting in a kinetic energy calculation of 5,289,904,665 Joules, is still below the designers’ allowance of 5,554,980,000 Joules for the towers. These calculations prove that the towers should have survived the structural damage inflicted on them by the impact of Flights 11 and 175.

In regards to the fires in both towers, their severity and run-time were inconsequential. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) admits as much in its failure to analyze the massive heat sink properties of the towers.1 This inexplicable failure on the part of NIST is de facto recognition that fire was not the cause of the towers’ collapse. Not helping NIST on this matter, is the agency’s continued stonewalling of calls from the engineering community to release the computer simulation models used to determine the fire damage to the towers’ steel.2 Is it any wonder then that the former chief of NIST’s Fire Science Division, James Quintieri, has called for an independent review into the NIST investigation.3

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