[dirtboy]

But what could create large pools of molten steel, not just bent steel?

Try kinetic energy. An iron meteorite estimated to be 65 feet in diameter created this:

Granted, the materials at the top of the WTC did not reach anything close to the velocity of the meteorite in question. But the amount of material involved was also far greater - and some of it fell over 1,000 feet.

So, in other words, when all that material hit the ground, a lot of the kinetic energy was translated into heat. And then more material piled on top of it, insulating the hottest materials in the center.

[bray]

Not to mention that thing burned for a month underground. Of course there is going to be molton steel in a furnace.

Happy Thanksgiving to W and Our Freedom Fighters

[Iconoclast2]

Physicists have demonstrated that even assuming the entire gravitational potential energy were converted to heat (with no loss for pulverization, etc.), the amount of energy involved is not sufficient to melt the steel.