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Name: Amelia
Status: student
Age: 18
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2001-2002
Question:
I'm doing research for a writing assignment on how the structure of the World Trade Center failed.

How would you describe what happened to the World Trade Center towers? What was the composition of the particular steel used in the buildings, and how would extreme heat affect it, aside from melting it? Before melting, was the steel's strength significantly diminished by the heat, leading to failure? At what temperature does jet fuel burn, and to what extent did the concrete insulation on the structure slow the melting process? Thank you, in advance, for your time!

Replies:
The best preliminary information in print is in Science Vol 293 No. 5538 pages 2182-2185 of the 21.September.2001 issue.

Nate Unterman


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