Posted on 09/08/2006 9:38:35 AM PDT by finnman69
A controversy over words at BYU this morning. A professor is on paid leave for suggesting the government is responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center.
The man on paid leave is Dr. Steven Jones. He's a physics professor involved in the so-called "9-11 Truth Movement."
Jones believes unnamed government agencies orchestrated the fall of the twin towers and he says there's evidence to back it up.
Two weeks ago he published his theory in a paper called "Why Indeed did the World Trade Center Buildings Collapse?" In it, the professor says the towers fell not because of planes hitting them but rather pro-positioned demolition charges.
He sites research conducted at BYU on materials from ground zero, asserting those materials show evidence of thermite, a compound used in military detonations. He says terrorists could have never set those charges.
The State Department has released a rebuttal to Jones' theory in a 10-thousand page report.
BYU made this statement last night.
"Physics Professor Steven Jones has made numerous statements about the collapse of the World Trade Center. BYU has repeatedly said that it does not endorse assertions made by individual faculty.
"We are, however, concerned about the increasingly speculative and accusatory nature of these statements by Dr. Jones."
The university added, "BYU remains concerned that Dr. Jones' works on this topic has not been published in appropriate scientific venues."
It is rare for some in Dr. Jones' position to be under review because he has taught at BYU for more than a decade.
He began his career at the university in 1985 and has been known his cold fusion research. But other professors will teach his classes while he's on paid leave.
He will be allowed to conduct research in his field but the university is reviewing his actions.
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.
Indeed, thus my tagline.
one reason why my kids will NOT go to the U.W. system!
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.OK, here is a pic of a thermite reaction. Does this look ANYTHING like the 'squib' dust clouds the moonbats claima re cutting charges?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.
"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.
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.
Is there money involved? Because here it is:
Scroll down to the title "WTC 7"
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?
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!
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