Re: It Makes You Think
 

Its supposed to do that, incase it did fall, so as they wouldnt crush any other buildings.

Re: It Makes You Think
 

But you'd think that a plane hitting a side would cause it to collapse in a certain direction. The designers may have perpared it for almost anything, but I seriously doubt it was constructed with terrorist plane attacks in mind.

Re: It Makes You Think
 

No, but if it exploded for some strange reason in one of those areas, the result would be the same. They dont design it for certain attacks, they design it to ensure that if a freak explosion or accident happen, that it will injure as few people and destroy as little propety as possible.

And no, i wouldnt think it would cause it to collapse in a certan direction. I didnt take drafting and how to design buildings for nothing. ;)


*Reads Crono's post*

*Reads Gimpys post*

*Edits his post*


Gimpy, you were partially right, they did build them for plane crashes, i doubt any of the engineers sat around and said 'What if we get attacked by a middle eastern country that plans to crash planes into these buildings." But more along the lines of "What if a plane accidentally crashes into the WTC."

Re: It Makes You Think
 

Maybe a little knowledge in civil engineering would change your view. And yes the WTC was built for plane crashes.

Re: It Makes You Think
 

The WTC was strong enough to stand up even with those planes crashing into them. There was one problem though. The supports to every floor(I can't remember what they're called) didn't have fire proof on them(I'm not entirely sure about this), and when the planes crashed they were carrying so much fuel that the fire was so hot and intense that it destroyed the supports. Without that support the WTC couldn't hold any part of the building above the damaged area. Once it was too much to hold, the damaged area of the building collapsed and the part on top of it was so heavy that it kept plowing the rest of hte building down with it. This is also why it collapsed straight down.

I saw this on the discovery channel I believe, so I don't have any links to back this up, but I know it's true because I saw the documentary about it.

Re: It Makes You Think
 

ZR is exactly right. I remember watching a very good TV show which said the exact same thing. That is how the buildings were designed.

Re: It Makes You Think
 

ah well, it was just an observation

Re: It Makes You Think
 

If I remember correctly, the WTC was built to withstand a 707 crash, which were the biggest commercial planes at the time it was built. Unfortunately the terrorists were fortunate enough to have hijacked 757's.