BYU Professor on Paid Leave for 9-11 Theory

Steven Jones is one of the higher profile 9/11 loons who is certain the towers were demolished by explosives.

Good riddance from the education system.

He needs to be on a permanent unpaid leave.

His web site at BYU: http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/default.aspx

Good. I suggested that this wackjob ought to be fired and it looks like BYU is doing the responsible thing and starting the procees, which I am sure will be interrupted by ACLU lawyers.

As might be expected, BYU shows much greater sense than UNH does. We the taxpayers are still giving our loonbattard professor a paycheck AND a forum.

You can bet his overseas account if filled with hezbo counterfeit.

oops

You can bet his overseas account is filled with hezbo counterfeit.

Here is the guys whackjob paper. He really believes this stuff. It's google cached, since BYU pulled it off their servers.

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:Z3tLh0j6QW8J:www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.html+steven+jones&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

oops

That's OK, it was probably all of that Thermite in the air from the WTC destruction by the Government...

Yea, all the depleted uranium thermite from the military industrial complex.,m .kfngh.,.,lol I can't even type it without laughing.

He sites research

"sites"? Come on, ksl. Just because you're a TV station doesn't mean you don't have to be careful with spelling and word choice.

I notice that he was originally hired to do cold fusion research. So he was on the fringes from the get-go.

To be fair, I am among those who are not entirely convinced that cold fusion is a complete impossibility, because it's very hard to prove a negative and I like to keep an open mind. But it has certainly not been shown to be a viable field for research, and it is a field known to attract nut cases.

Oh look! He's a man of science!

great rebuttal to the Contrrolled Demolition kooks here

http://onautopilot.blogspot.com/2006/08/controlled-demolition-they-beg-to.html

Controlled demolition? They beg to differ..

All dressed up and nowhere to go. I was going to post a long rant debunking controlled demolition as a reason why the World Trade Center collapsed – but somebody has nicely put it all in a single document.

I will post a few choice bits I found that tackle the notion advanced by conspiracy theorists, namely:

“…2,000 lbs of RDX-grade linear-shaped charges (which could have been pre-positioned by just a few men) could cut the supports at key points so that gravity would bring the buildings straight down.”
-Prof. Stephen E. Jones, Brigham Young University

Professor, meet a man who blows up buildings for a living:

“The explosives configuration manufacturing technology [to bring down those buildings] does not exist… If someone were to attempt to make such charges, they would weigh thousands of pounds apiece. You would need forklifts to bring them into the building.”
-Mark Loizeaux, Controlled Demolition, Inc.

Loizeaux goes on to say that the biggest commercially available charges can cut through steel that is three inches thick. The box columns at the base of the WTC towers were fourteen inches on a side. If big enough charges did exist, Loizeaux says, for each tower it could hypothetically take as long as two months for a team of up to 75 men with unfettered access to three floors to strip the fireproofing off the columns and then place and wire the charges.

“There’s just no way to do it… If you just put bulk explosives in file cabinets next to every column in the building, it wouldn’t knock those columns down. It would blow the windows out. It would trash the [building] and probably blow out two floors above and a floor below… but it wouldn’t knock the building down.”
-Mark Loizeaux, Controlled Demolition, Inc.

On to the really good stuff. It turns out yesterday, the folks over at Implosionworld.com (gotta love the name) have released a report on controlled demolition theories at the WTC.

Their verdict – the Controlled Demolition theory folks don’t have the faintest idea what they are talking about.

Read all about it. (PDF) [Mirrored at xbehome.com]

BYU is a religious private school. I do not think the ACLU can have much influence here. The BYU administration can remove their professors for just about any reason.

I highly recommend reading this debunking of the controlled demolition theory here

http://www.implosionworld.com/Article-WTC9-6-06.pdf

evidence of thermite, a compound used in military detonations.

LOL! ROTFLMAO!

Hey, guess what else thermite is used in besides military detonations?

Welding.

I wonder if any welding was involved in the building of two 110-story towers?

No offense to any freeper Physicist (you know who you are :), but this is what happens when you send a physicist to do an engineers job. Its like trusting a college biology teacher to perform your open heart surgery... Bad idea..

They need to revoke this guy's PhD (assuming he even has one).

I've met a few of these whacko physicists over the years. One who was very entertaining was a high energy physicist who was convinced he could levitate through meditation and who was working on the ability to walk through walls. It isn't just physcists of course. I've also met some chemists, biologists, and engineers who were equally deluded.

I would guess some thermite or traces of thermite got on the steel at the original steel factory (if they really found any). Most of the original onsite welding was submerged arc.

Thermite? Hey, wait a minute ...

Thermite is made from aluminum oxide in conjunction with another metal oxide, usually iron oxide (rust is one form, but there are better ones). Ignition of a thermite reaction takes a lot of heat, but then it burns feircely on its own.

Could the jets crashing into the World Trade Center have begun thermite reactions, which then melted the support beams? Aluminum oxide from the aircraft, heat from burning jet fuel in an enclosed space, iron oxide in the beams or other places ...

Just wondering.

If someone more knowlegeable about chemistry than myself would care to debunk this theory, I would be obliged.

Thank you SO MUCH for that link. I knew a knowledgable source would come out to put this crap to rest. Now to print this out and give it to my family members..

Can't you get expelled from BYU for drinking a beer or smoking? Sounds to me like the administration of this school is just fine with this.

I've also met some chemists, biologists, and engineers who were equally deluded.

Indeed, thus my tagline.

All he will need to do is to move to Madison, WI. Apparently the Univ of WI's whacko 911 conspiracy professor (who teaches Islamic studies, btw) is filling up classes fast. Sounds like he could use some help.

one reason why my kids will NOT go to the U.W. system!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite

Conventional thermite reactions require very high temperatures for initiation. These cannot be reached with conventional black-powder fuses, nitrocellulose rods, detonators, or other common igniting substances. Even when the thermite is hot enough to glow bright red, it will not ignite as it must be at or near white-hot to initiate the reaction. It is possible to start the reaction using a propane torch if done right, but this should never be attempted for safety reasons.
Often, strips of magnesium metal are used as fuses. Magnesium burns at approximately the temperature at which thermite reacts, around 2500 Kelvin (4000 °F). This method is notoriously unreliable: magnesium itself is hard to ignite, and in windy or wet conditions the strip may be extinguished. Also, magnesium strips do not contain their own oxygen source so ignition cannot occur through a small hole. A significant danger of magnesium ignition is the fact that the metal is an excellent conductor of heat; heating one end of the ribbon may cause the other end to transfer enough heat to the thermite to cause premature ignition. Despite these issues, magnesium ignition remains popular amongst amateur thermite users.
The reaction between potassium permanganate and glycerine is used as an alternative to the magnesium method. When these two substances mix, a spontaneous reaction will begin, slowly increasing the temperature of the mixture until flames are produced. The heat released by the oxidation of glycerine is sufficient to initiate a thermite reaction. However, this method can also be unreliable and the delay between mixing and ignition can vary greatly due to factors such as particle size and ambient temperature.
Another method of igniting is to use a common sparkler to ignite the mix. These reach the necessary temperatures and provide a sufficient amount of time before the burning point reaches the sample.

OK, here is a pic of a thermite reaction. Does this look ANYTHING like the 'squib' dust clouds the moonbats claima re cutting charges?

"They need to revoke this guy's PhD (assuming he even has one)."

He doesn't have one. Why schools promote unqualified people to the level of professor is a mystery to me.

He has one. Received his Ph.D. in Physics from Vanderbilt University in 1978.

But knowing fusion and solar energy does not qualify him to make civil engineering or architectural judgments. Read the Implosion World article recommended elsewhere in this thread. It does a great job of disproving the "controlled demolition" theories.

Ah, so he does have one... I read elsewhere that he didn't. Thanks for the correction.

It says on page 11 of this report that he doesn't have a doctorate degree, so maybe he finished his dissertation but didn't pass his defense??? I'm not sure I would trust his CV to be correct.

http://www.implosionworld.com/Article-WTC9-6-06.pdf

He is probably tenured and cannot be fired. This is generally a good policy because it protects free speech and freedom of scholarly thought and research. This too shall pass. His grant money will dry up, then his grad students will have to move to a different lab that has money to pay them.

The system takes care of this stuff.

Thermite is made from aluminum oxide in conjunction with another metal oxide, usually iron oxide...

That would be finely powdered aluminum (NOT aluminum oxide) mixed with finely powdered iron oxide (rust). The thermite reaction results from aluminum reducing the iron oxide to pure iron, releasing a lot of thermal energy (which means the iron is molten) and aluminum oxide is formed. It is an extremely energetic reaction although somewhat difficult to initiate.

Regards,
GtG

"He doesn't have one [A Ph.D]. Why schools promote unqualified people to the level of professor is a mystery to me."

Two of my best professors in College (University of Michigan College of Engineering) did not have Ph.Ds. One had an MSE, the other one just a BSNAME. Both, however had virtually invented the aspect of Naval Architecture that they were teaching, and knew a lot more than most Engineering Ph.Ds. They were also brilliant teachers. (Not all professors can teach, trust me.) So the presence or lack of a Ph.D -- in isolation -- is not evidence of competence.

That said, this guy at BYU is a loon -- independent of his degrees or lack of them. I believe he was involved in some of the Fleishman and Ponds nonesense about cold fusion in the 1980s, which should have been a warning back then.

Ah, the ad hominem attacks! Been a while since I've been to freep. I can see why I stopped coming here. Not the open-minded think-tank it once was.

WTC 1, 2 & 7 fell at free-fall speed. Doesn't mean Bush did it. Doesn't mean Bush knew about it. Just means it wasn't just the planes.

Here's an idea. I dare you... no, I triple-dog dare you to provide a reasonable explanation as to why WTC 7 fell at all. It wasn't hit by a plane.

That won't be hard to do, you might say. Great. Here's the challenging part: ARGUE THE POINT WITHOUT THE AD HOMINEM ATTACK.

Good luck.

I dare you... no, I triple-dog dare you to provide a reasonable explanation as to why WTC 7 fell at all.

Is there money involved? Because here it is:
Scroll down to the title "WTC 7"

LOL. I think our "FRiend" may not have his allowance yet so he can't bet money.

If Bush didn't do it, then who did?

How were the people who prepped the demolition able to spend weeks placing charges, wiring detonators and cutting structural members with torches, without being noticed by security personnel and/or workers at the WTC?

How could all of those people who had a hand in the conspiracy keep the secret for five years, in this government where the most highly classified information we have is routinely published on the front page of the New York Times?

And just exactly how did the perps manage to pull off the illusion that two planes hit the the WTC, and how did they dispose of the passengers and crew on the planes they had us believe were hijacked?

"unnamed government agency"

I wish idiots like this could work for a while at some government agency - their choice. All US govt. Agencies have at least a few thousand employees composed of both Republicans and Dimocrats. Conspiracies involving enough people to pull off a black flag type op like 9-11 simply aren't possible. It's laughable.

Who's going to fund it? Who do you approach because if you talk to just one person who goes to the press then - jail time baby. CIA case officers? Special Forces? I know both and they would just hold you down (well maybe the snake eaters would) while they called for the guys in the white suits to take you away.

"Yes, SEAL Team 6 we've called you here today because we want you to blow up the Twin Towers in NYC. For the good of the country and all." Riiiight. While you're at it, hit the Pentagon..... That's it. Damn, the SEALs did it!

Are the whack ball conspiracy theorists who have popped up on the left the same loons that the right laughed out of town about ten years ago or is this a completely new bunch of nuts?

I'd say just let them chatter and undermine the credibility of their own cause. Problem is, lefties are so susceptible to this sort of thing.

Awww, you're disqualified. You ignored the word "reasonable".

Wow. Popular Mechanics. Yeah, they left no stone unturned. That article ignores the squibs going up the side of the building, brushes aside the video footage of explosions immediately preceding the collapse, leaves out Silverstein's "pull it" comment (oh, sure he meant "pull the firefighters") and, here's the kicker, "Our current working hypothesis is". Translation: They don't know either.

I asked you first.

Go ahead and set up the strawman. That's about the most one can expect from freep these days. Don't answer the questions. Don't logically, reasonably argue the point. Just beat the snot out of the strawman.

Oh, I didn't post my post for you. I know for a fact that you cannot be convinced. I am amazed as to what you consider reasonable and what you consider beyond reason. That's OK. I did it for people who might wander in who think you might have a point. ,P> The fact is, most people think people who think like you are so insane that they don't even bother with you. The guys who wrote the Popular Mechanics article did a very nice and thankless effort in that regard.

Now, with respect to their unwillingness to be too certain about their conclusions: That is reasonableness. They have rubble to go through. They have to draw conclusions based on the best available evidence. Unlike the conspiracy theorists, they cannot simply assert an hypothesis and ask the rest of the world to prove them wrong with metaphysical certainty. That's the easiest thing in the world to do.

Translation: They don't know either.

And neither do you. (Although you seem to be quite certain about your conclusions.) But the PM guys have actual evidence. And facts. And I will go with that.

Lol - what point? I'm making my own. I'm saying anyone with any real world experience with the the US Govt. just snickers. Me thinks you watch too much television.

I spent 11 years covert in the CIA in the 80's and 90's. Hate to pop your bubble but it is just another bunch of regular American's doing a job. Liberals and conservatives. Many hard working and smart people but rules and regulations and laws and EEO and idiotic glass ceiling lawsuits. 99% of the time it's like working at the Post Office. Join the military, live overseas, get a real job - grow a brain.

There is a very simple kernel at the heart of most of the "WTC was caused by GWB" conspiracy kooks: ANTI-SEMITISM. I've posted this on a similar thread, but here's my take again:

This 9/11 conspiracy 'theory' is wildly popular among Holocaust-deniers and other anti-semites because it allows them to: a. portray the US as beholden to "the Joos", and

b. allows them to excuse Islamofascists (who are, of course, their most loyal anti-semitic allies)

Anti-Semites are, in my experience, the lowest form of humanity, and why they spin these insane 9/11 conspiracy theories is obvious when you realize their true motivations...