Rant: Guy at the hardware store told me jet fuel doesn't melt steel beams and I couldn't let it go

I was at Ace Hardware on Mission Street last Tuesday buying a new putty knife, and this older dude in line behind me just blurts out that whole thing about controlled demolition. He talked for like 10 minutes about how the official story doesn't add up with the building collapse patterns. I didn't even know what to say back, but it got me looking up videos that night. Has anyone else had a random stranger hit you with a full conspiracy theory out of nowhere?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray3561mo ago

The thermal expansion coefficients on those steel beams change way faster than people realize once you factor in the specific alloys used in pre-90s construction. Saw a structural engineer break it down once and it made way more sense than any demolition theory.

oscarc121mo ago

@ray356 what specific alloy made the big difference in those old buildings?

simonp761mo ago

The real kicker is what happens with the sulfur content in those old ASTM A7 steels they used before the 70s. That stuff reacts totally different under sustained heat compared to modern A992 or A588 alloys. A7 was dirt cheap and had way more carbon and phosphorus mixed in, so once you hit around 800 degrees the beam flutter starts way sooner than people expect. Some of those pre-90s box columns had weird weld seams too that would just pop under uneven expansion. A buddy of mine who does forensic engineering for insurance claims says most folks just look at the melting point of steel and call it a day, but the real story is in the creep rates at lower temps. That's where the whole controlled demolition stuff falls apart because nobody accounts for the specific alloy batch numbers and their actual heat curves.