Reply #73: Yeah, you understand the physics, dontcha [View All]

[William Seger]

Neither the size nor the mass of the lower structure have a damn thing to do with anything. The buildings collapsed totally because the falling masses delivered more impact force than the strength of the lower structure could withstand. At any given level of the building, the structure was designed to have a carrying capacity of perhaps three times the expected dead and live service loads -- a very reasonable safety margin under normal conditions. By Bazant's calculations, the falling mass delivered at least 8 times that much force. The reason that the only structural engineers who have signed up for the "truth movement" are a tiny handful of crackpots who don't seem to know what they're talking about, is because most structural engineers know that very, very few buildings could possibly withstand that kind of disaster. And here's some real 9/11 truth for you, wildbill: There is exactly one reason why buildings are not designed to withstand that kind of disaster: the cost.