Originally posted by indian:
Saw show that was to be tribute to the WTC but was turned around sence SEP 11. Looks like the design of the twin towers is what made them fall. there was now internal colums to support the floors, the outside walls were all the support and strength. Looked like even the elevator safts didnt go all the to ground level.
Saw the same show. The exterior of the building was very strong and strong enough to withstand the impacts. It was like a net, which is a very strong structure. You break one piece of the web and the other pieces can still suppport the weight. The problem was that the top floors fell straight down onto the floors underneath. Had they fallen to the side chances are that the rest of the building would have stayed upright. Too much force coming down caused the floors to pancake, and release all the potential energy stored in the building. That's why all the concrete atomised into dust. Once that chain reaction started,poof no way to stop it without massive lateral force.
I wish I was an engineer instead of a tech, then I could give you all the mathmatical equations and such. A couple of the engineers and I hear at work had a good talk on this about 2 months ago. They were crunching theoretical numbers about the weight and forces invovled in the collapse, it was mind boggling how big these force numbers were, think exponents......
[edit] Indian,
did you see the dates of the interviews for that show? Bone chilling. Alot of the people in that show died on 9/11

[ 01-08-2002: Message edited by: Udie ]