- Mar 20, 2000
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Originally posted by: LunarRay
Yes it seems so. But, then think about that for a second. All stuff that fell at free fall did so. The roof upon which the coyote sat fell as did the sides and front and back. That means all the stuff inside did too. All at the same time otherwise there would be Resistance in some amount to obviate free fall to whatever it (the Resistance) resisted.
So, we have to get all the stuff inside to not resist in any way any part of the observable free fall bit. We have to do this using gravity alone. The fire enabled the event but the fire didn't make the stuff fall... But for gravity it would have just floated there. So, how can we do that... all at same time?
The NIST argument is something like ok... 79 went and 44 walked off its joint there and all the other beams and cross trusses and ties and well, everything went down in a manner that the last bit to go held everything up until it went too and it fell at free fall as well cuz then nothing was connected or resisted.
I'd have said 79 was the last to go since it held up the penthouse and immediately after the penthouse area buckled the whole shebang fell... at free fall..
Edit: the fall was symetrical ergo the loss of vertical counter force also had to be symetrical as well as the lateral force to keep the walls from buckling in, out or whichever.
I can't visualize how that could happen..
the fall wasn't symmetrical, the tower was leaning to the south but that isn't apparent from the northern angle. video
the fall also wasn't as you described it. the stuff on the inside had already been collapsing before anything was visible from the exterior. the first you see of it is the collapse of the east penthouse. then there is several seconds where it looks like nothing is happening (but there was a lot going on inside). once the interior was gone the damaged exterior couldn't handle the load any more, the lower columns started to bend and eventually reached the breaking point (to be a little colloquial).