PROOF THAT THE THERMAL AND GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY AVAILABLE WERE INSUFFICIENT TO MELT STEEL IN THE TWIN TOWERS AND 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER ON 9/11/01

By Terry Morrone.

Professor Emeritus of Physics, Adelphi University

In this communication I shall show that only explosives could have produced the large amounts of molten steel found at the site of the World Trade Center (WTC) in the days following 9/11. There is universal agreement by scientists in and out of government that the temperatures reached in the fires were much lower than the melting point of steel. (1-3) Steel could have only have melted (assuming no explosives were used) if it gained additional energy in falling. I shall show that this gravitational energy is insufficient to cause melting.

Steven E. Jones has made a strong case that some molten steel (or iron-rich metal) was observed pouring from high up in the South Tower (4). In that case gravity was not a factor. However, much more molten steel was probably found in the rubble than was observed pouring out of the buildings, and the purpose of this report is to show that gravity could not have played a significant role in its formation.

Although there are some technical points involved in my arguments, I will describe, in an elementary way, all the scientific concepts involved. This report will also provide references showing that molten steel was indeed found.

Unit of Energy

I will use the joule, the unit of energy in the metric system. One joule per second is a watt. We're all familiar with watts since light bulbs are rated in them. For example, a 100 watt light bulb uses up energy at a rate of 100 joules per second. Another common unit is the calorie. One calorie is 4.186 joules. This is not the calorie used in rating foods, which are rated in kilocalories or Calories (calories with a capital C). A human uses up about 2000 Calories a day which is approximately equivalent to the rate of energy usage of a 100 watt light bulb.