We’ve all heard the “official conspiracy theory” of the Death Star attack. We all know about Luke Skywalker and his ragtag bunch of rebels, how they mounted a foolhardy attack on the most powerful, well-defended battle station ever built. And we’ve all seen the video over, and over, and over, of the one-in-a-million shot that resulted in a massive chain reaction that not just damaged, but completely obliterated that massive technological wonder.
Like many citizens of the Empire, I was fed this story when I was growing up. But as I watched the video, I began to realize that all was not as it seemed. And the more I questioned the official story, the deeper into the rabbit hole I went.
The Hoofnagles gave us an entertaining view of a troofer a few weeks ago. This gentleman tried to simulate the fall of the twin towers on 9/11 using office supplies. It's clearly a mess.
The simulation could be used to better understand which elements in the building's structural core were affected, how they responded to the initial shock of the aircraft collision, and how the tower later collapsed from the ensuing fire fed by an estimated 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, said Mete Sozen, the Kettelhut Distinguished Professor of Structural Engineering in Purdue's School of Civil Engineering.
It took about 80 hours using a high-performance computer containing 16 processors to produce the first simulation, which depicts how the plane tore through several stories of the structure within a half-second, said Christoph M. Hoffmann, a professor of computer science and co-director of the Computing Research Institute at Purdue.
Their findings? The towers lost 25% of their core support beams:
The researchers are analyzing how many columns were destroyed initially in the building's core, a spine of 47 heavy steel I-beams extending through the center of the structure, Sozen said.
"Current findings from the simulation have identified the destruction of 11 columns on the 94th floor, 10 columns on the 95th floor and nine columns on the 96th floor," he said. "This is a major insight. When you lose close to 25 percent of your columns at a given level, the building is significantly weakened and vulnerable to collapse."
It remains to be seen if this has much effect on the troofer movement. (Don't hold your breath).
Apparently the researchers at Purdue are currently working on modeling the fall of the towers:
In the coming months, we will explore how the structure reacted to the extreme heat from the blaze that led to the building's collapse, and we will refine the visual presentations of the simulation.
The video of the simulation is below. It's fascinating to watch, even if it is disturbing.
Google Ads seems to place the most obnoxious ads at the top of my blog. When I write a few posts about how acupuncture has been demonstrated not to work, it places an advertisement for acupuncture. When I write about creationist frauds, it puts up ads for creationist books (or more recently, for creationist movies).
I don't endorse these products. In many cases, I think it likely that the marketers are not only mistaken, but frauds.
I thought about taking these ads down, but instead, I'm leaving them there. I'm considering them an anthropology experiment for me, and my readers. It's a fascinating world out there. Feel free to comment on the ads and the products they are selling in the relevant posts.
I enjoy the irony that people like Ben Stein and Gary Null will be paying me to take Mrs. Factician out for a nice dinner (at current click rates, about once every 18 months).
I'm fascinated with how people find conspiracies in every science situation that disagrees with their previously held prejudices. Be that global warming, evolution by natural selection, or the moon landing. I'll be posting on science, politics, and things that amuse me.