Travis
Misanthrope of the Mountains
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2007
- Messages
- 24,133
It is a strange belief, Truthers have, that steel skyscrapers are seemingly indestructible. It seems that the mechanizations of disaster overlook these mighty structures and, as only the hand of man can create them, so to can only the hand of man bring them down. Truthers actually seem to think this is some sort of consensus opinion. This notion seems to be drawn from the often cited absence of steel skyscraper collapse prior to 9/11. This of course overlooks the relative scarcity of steel skyscrapers in comparison to other structures and the resultant improved maintenance and oversight of these structures.
So, is the failure of these structures to fail because of the fastidious upkeep by their owners or the perfection of their design?
In the late 70's the Citicorp Building rose above midtown Manhattan, the worlds largest Central Business District, as a testament to innovative engineering. The building was supported by a stilt structure that elevated it above a local church and accomplished this with an elaborate framing structure designed by William J. LeMessurier.
However, unknown to anyone at the time of its opening, the building was structurally compromised by a change in design during construction when welded joints were abandoned for cheaper bolted joints. LeMessurier stumbled upon this discovery himself and informed the buildings owners who decided to take action immediately.
From an article in Damn Interesting:
So, it seems that plain old wind could have brought down a mighty indestructible steel skyscraper. To a Truther this will make no sense since never before has a steel skyscraper been toppled by wind and Truther logic dictates that anything without precedent, apparently, can't happen*. So, it seems that Citicorp either wasted all that time and money on an unnecessary structural improvement or were really up to something else, nefarious doings no doubt.
So, what about fire? Well, besides the often discussed Windsor Tower something that was a lot more relevant to me on the morning of September 11th was the fire in the First Interstate World Tower on the 4th of May, 1988. On that date a fire started on the 12th floor and spread to four more floors as firefighters found water to fight the fire lacking due to construction that was installing sprinklers on upper floors. Consequently the fire grew larger than office fires usually do. This greatly worried people on site but ultimately the building did not collapse. Why? Fire Fighter analysis points to:
It was also shown that if fire protection to structural members is adequately designed and applied with quality control, fire damage to fire exposed members will be minimised and structural collapse can be prevented.
That's right, the fire protection stayed intact as it had been applied in a quality controlled manner and that saved the building. In the WTC that fire protection was compromised so......one has to wonder, what was supposed to save the WTC? Happy thoughts, rainbows and puppy whiskers?
So, Truthers, steel skyscrapers are marvels of engineering but like all things humans build they are prone to failure should certain conditions manifest themselves and the fact that building owners usually keep their costly investments away from those conditions is not evidence of their indestructibility it is evidence of their value.
*Truthers are inconsistent with this logic since they continually insist that the US Government kills, or wishes to kill, thousands of its own citizens for personal gain despite the lack of precedent for this.
So, is the failure of these structures to fail because of the fastidious upkeep by their owners or the perfection of their design?
In the late 70's the Citicorp Building rose above midtown Manhattan, the worlds largest Central Business District, as a testament to innovative engineering. The building was supported by a stilt structure that elevated it above a local church and accomplished this with an elaborate framing structure designed by William J. LeMessurier.
However, unknown to anyone at the time of its opening, the building was structurally compromised by a change in design during construction when welded joints were abandoned for cheaper bolted joints. LeMessurier stumbled upon this discovery himself and informed the buildings owners who decided to take action immediately.
From an article in Damn Interesting:
So, it seems that plain old wind could have brought down a mighty indestructible steel skyscraper. To a Truther this will make no sense since never before has a steel skyscraper been toppled by wind and Truther logic dictates that anything without precedent, apparently, can't happen*. So, it seems that Citicorp either wasted all that time and money on an unnecessary structural improvement or were really up to something else, nefarious doings no doubt.
So, what about fire? Well, besides the often discussed Windsor Tower something that was a lot more relevant to me on the morning of September 11th was the fire in the First Interstate World Tower on the 4th of May, 1988. On that date a fire started on the 12th floor and spread to four more floors as firefighters found water to fight the fire lacking due to construction that was installing sprinklers on upper floors. Consequently the fire grew larger than office fires usually do. This greatly worried people on site but ultimately the building did not collapse. Why? Fire Fighter analysis points to:
It was also shown that if fire protection to structural members is adequately designed and applied with quality control, fire damage to fire exposed members will be minimised and structural collapse can be prevented.
That's right, the fire protection stayed intact as it had been applied in a quality controlled manner and that saved the building. In the WTC that fire protection was compromised so......one has to wonder, what was supposed to save the WTC? Happy thoughts, rainbows and puppy whiskers?
So, Truthers, steel skyscrapers are marvels of engineering but like all things humans build they are prone to failure should certain conditions manifest themselves and the fact that building owners usually keep their costly investments away from those conditions is not evidence of their indestructibility it is evidence of their value.
*Truthers are inconsistent with this logic since they continually insist that the US Government kills, or wishes to kill, thousands of its own citizens for personal gain despite the lack of precedent for this.
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