9/11 Debate

[kruddler]

No not all all.

You know the math can't lie, you could halve all the figures from the actual and the resulting energies are still way beyond anything a building could resist. That is how back of the envelope calculations like this work, you don't end up an order of magnitude out.

For example; Looking 1/2 Mass(5% of WTC 1 or 2), 1/2 Gravity(reduced acceleration), 1/2 fall height
E = 22,500,000 x 4.9 x 5
E = 551,250,000 Newtons

F = E/g
F = 551,250,000 / 9.8
F = 56,250,000kg

Nothing we build today can withstand even that, it's at least an order of magnitude too high for any building to withstand and transmit that energy down through the structure to the foundations like a shockwave.

For comparative reference, the recent Beirut fertilizer blast was about 1/10th the collapse energy of just one WTC.

Ockham's Razor at work, I think I've read that somewhere before!

So 1 order of magnitude....
Get rid of your 5m, that is saying that 1.5m of floors were essentially not there.
10% (reduced to 5%) may be the height, but the base is more dense than the top, as the weight distribution may make it even less than that. 1/2 of gravity is still a hell of a lot of accelaration to happen all at once. Change those figures and there goes your order of magnitude before we even try.

Still....this assumes a uniform, whole collapse at once which is simply not practical.