Truthers take on Bazant

[LARED]

http://bogus911science.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/the-three-fatal-flaws-in-bazants-wtc-concrete-pulverization-calculations-and-why-his-calculations-really-support-nuclear-demolition/

Bazant’s WTC concrete pulverization calculations can be found here. Basically, he calculates that 7% of the total “gravitational potential energy” (GPE) is required to pulverize all of the concrete in the WTC towers.

His three fatal flaws are:

1) he significantly under-estimates the size of the particles that result from concrete pulverization (as detailed here)– thus significantly under-estimating the energy needed to pulverize the WTC.

2) he does not take into account the complete pulverization of all interior contents of the towers– interior walls, furniture, computers, filing cabinets and PEOPLE– thus significantly under-estimating the energy needed to completely pulverize the WTC.

3) he does not take into account the EFFICIENCY of the “gravitational potential energy” in pulverizing all of the concrete. There is no way this process is even close to 100% efficient! Think about the actual mechanics involved in a collapse: a heavy set of floors is dropping ten feet onto a lower floor filled with interior walls, furniture, and the bottom concrete slab is covered with some padding and carpet. There is simply no way that the floor slab concrete is going to be significantly pulverized in this way. Some concrete will be crushed by breakage of the floors slabs and by steel columns being forced downwards at irregular angles, but it is difficult to imagine that more than 10% of the concrete being crushed in this way, and much of this crushing will not result in micron-sized particles. A heavy weight dropping ten feet onto a furniture and carpet-covered floor is thus going to have an efficiency of concrete pulverization of 10% at most. Not to mention that after a few floors are crushed down, there is going to be a build up of crushed material from the previously crushed floors, which will act as a buffer and decrease the efficiency of further crushing. Thus, to simply equate “gravitational potential energy” with the energy required to pulverize concrete, as Bazant does, is incredibly flawed, bad science.

Just wow.

[Ohio Joe]

1. Math is not my strong point but...

On number three... WTF? Does this guy think the towers were only two floors each?

[OnTheOtherHand]

2. no, but I'm not willing to hazard much more than that

He seems to be saying that as the collapse progresses, its "efficiency" at "pulverizing" concrete to micron size will steadily decrease.

I'm not sure what to say. It seems like a technical argument without the "technical" or the "argument."

[LARED]

3. I think they think as the floors falls onto the one below

it decreases the potential for work energy into the concrete. That does not make any kind of sense because as a floor drops onto the floor below both floors and subsequent floor largely remained in the building and were pulverized all the way down. Inside the perimeter of the building it was like a giant grinding machine of steel and concrete. Some floors for over a thousand feet.

There is really not even science required to understand this. All one need to do is understand how the buildings were constructed and watch the video of the collapse.