[expatguy]

"At that temperature, there will be nothing left of the bodies—they will have been completely cremated."

I thought so as well... which is why I don't understand this ~~

"authorities said they would have to use DNA testing to identify the victims...All that was in the room was a 70-square-meter block of steel..."

Can someone explain this to me...

What are they going to DNA test? The block of steel?

And secondly, wouldn't the DNA have been completely destroyed as well?

Thanks

[rottndog]

I don’t think there is anything in or immediately around the “block of steel”.

The only remains that possibly could have survived were anything that was blown clear, as null and void pointed out in #42.

[texas booster]

Chemical bonds have a certain stability based on the type of bonding. Some
bonds are quite strong The following are covalent bond strengths.

Bond Bond Strength(kJ/mole); Bond Bond Strength (kJ/mole)
Cl-Cl 239 H-Cl 427
H-H 432 C-H 413
N N 941 N-H 391

Bond strength can be overcome by adding heat...The GC and AT bonds in DNA
are hydrogen bonds (non-covalent) and can also be overcome with heat.

these hydrogen bonds are about 71 kilojoules per mole...relatively weak (but
strong in large numbers) and can be broken and reformed by heating and
cooling. This is the secret behind the polymerase chain reaction.

Faletra, Peter, Argonne National Labs