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Then there is the rather mysterious sulfidation of the steel reported in this paper -- What is the origin of this sulfur? No solid answer is given in any of the official reports.
Of course, there is a straightforward way to achieve 1000°C temperatures (and well above) in the presence of sulfur, and that is to use thermate (or a similar variation of thermite). Thermate is a high-level thermite analog containing sulfur developed by the military (see
www.dodtechmatch.com...). Thermate combines aluminum/iron oxide (thermite) with barium nitrate (29%) and sulfur (typically 2% although more sulfur could be added). The thermate reaction proceeds rapidly and is much faster than thermite in degrading steel leading to structural failure. Thus, both the unusually high temperatures and the extraordinary observation of steel-sulfidation (Barnett, 2001) can be accounted for -- if the use of thermate is allowed in the discussion. Note that other oxidizers (like KMnO4) and metals (like titanium and silicon) are commonly used in thermite analogs.
Finally, sulfidation was observed in structural steel samples found from both WTC7 and one of the WTC Towers, as reported in Appendix C in the FEMA report. It is quite possible that more than one type of cutter-charge was involved on 9/11, e.g., HMX, RDX and thermate in some combination. While gypsum in the buildings is a source of sulfur, it is highly unlikely that this sulfur could find its way into the structural steel in such a way as to form a eutectic. The evidence for the use of some variant of thermite such as sulfur-containing thermate in the destruction of the WTC Towers and building 7 is sufficiently compelling to warrant serious investigation
While gypsum in the buildings is a source of sulfur, it is highly unlikely that this sulfur could find its way into the structural steel in such a way as to form a eutectic.
Originally posted by cryingindian
Howard, three questions, please...
1) Can you explain in layman's terms what is meant by "Solid State Diffusion Mechanism"?
2) Does Gypsum burn, and, if so, at what temperature does it actually oxidize?
3) Who would FEMA be "suggesting further research" to...Steven Jones?
Originally posted by HowardRoark
If you are going to claim that the steel was melted, the you have to accept that the sulfur dioxide from burning building materials would have been present in the debris pile.
Originally posted by bsbray11
Now all you have to do, HowardRoark, is (a) realize that that bright orange crap coming out of WTC2 wasn't aluminum, because aluminum doesn't look anything like that at anywhere near those temperatures and
(b) go back and look through those posts by WCIP and etc. detailing why a theoretical Ground Zero super-furnace would have not been possible without a little help from something like an incendiary.
Originally posted by HowardRoark
Then how come it turned silver again after it fell a few floors?
Originally posted by HowardRoark
[
Then how come it turned silver again after it fell a few floors?