Pulverized concrete and fragmented steel

Claim

Instantaneous pulverization of concrete and fragmentation of steel in transportable lengths before hitting the ground⁰.

Background

The claim can be found on a flyer handed out by the Danish Truth Movement i11time.dk and points to the World Trade Center 1, 2, and 7 having been destroyed by tons of nanothermite and explosives placed on all or most floors.

Facts

Construction

The World Trade Center 1 and 2 were constructed around a steel frame with heavy columns in the middle and for the facade. Between these columns, the floors were hung on a secondary steel frame. There was no concrete in the supporting construction, only steel¹.

Light-weight concrete was used to mold the floors, and the walls were primarily made of gypsum and supporting structures².

Steel
The steel frame was not “fragmented” but simply torn apart by the enormous forces in play. The steel frame primarily separated where the elements were nitted together during construction. The collapse resulted in huge amounts of twisted steel parts of various sizes³.

A large part of the ruins were in such big pieces that they had to be dismantled in stages, before they could be moved.

Concrete
Most of the light-weight concrete and gypsum were, not surprisingly, smashed during the collapse and caused huge amounts of dust. However, it was far from all concrete that were pulverized before hitting the ground.

Damages

The heavy damage on other buildings in the area is evidence that very large parts fell from the World Trade Center 1 and 2. The World Trade Center 7 and Bankers Trust were both hit by very large parts of respectively the World Trade Center 1 and 2. The World Trade Center 5 and 6 were also heavily damaged.

Evaluation of the scope of damage:

Controlled demolition
Pulverization is not conclusive evidence of controlled demolition. On the contrary, controlled demolitions leave debris of all sizes.

Instantaneous pulverization is not a feature of controlled demolitions. On the contrary, explosives are only applied in those places where the building will collapse according to the plan. The goal is to make the building collapse where and how you want it and let gravity do the rest⁴.

Logic

It is illogical that a conspiracy should in any way benefit from debris and ruins consisting only of concrete powder and steel in desired lengths. The goal would thus be to create chaos, by demolishing the buildings, and order by having the area cleared quickly. Chaos and order, at the same time.

It is self-contradicting that conspirators would on one hand be so reckless as to attack one’s own and destroy one’s own buildings but on the other hand make it easy and considerate for those cleaning up the mess. Either the conspirators are boundlessly evil and indifferent or they are not.

The claim is manipulating due to the choice of the words “instantaneous”, “pulverized” and “fragmented”, which can only lead to images of total destruction of very solid materials in a very short time. Since this can only be achieved by using explosives, the claim only leads to one answer, namely (controlled) demolition.

Conclusion

Nothing happened “instantaneous”, but progressively. The steel was not “fragmented” and the concrete was not “instantaneously pulverized”. The collapse happened progressively, as the top floors crushed the lower ones.

The claim is therefore:

• False
• Without witnesses
• Undocumented
• Illogical
• Self-contradicting
• Manipulating

Sources

0. Flyer, i11time.dk
1. NIST Undersøgelse af WTC 1 og 2, Kapitel 2.3
2. NIST Undersøgelse af WTC 1 og 2, Kapitel 2.3.2
3. FEMA 403: World Trade Center Building Performance Study, Appendix B. Structural and Steel Connections
   NIST Undersøgelse af WTC 1 og 2, , 9.3.1 Probable Collapse Sequence of WTC 1
   NIST Undersøgelse af WTC 1 og 2, , 9.3.2 Probable Collapse Sequence of WTC 2
4. Controlled demolitions

Q & A