Super-Thermite Found in World Trade Center Dust
5 April 2009
"The evidence for active, highly energetic thermitic material in the WTC dust is compelling...All these data suggest that the thermitic material found in the WTC dust is a form of nanothermite, not ordinary (macro-) thermite."
- Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe
Professor Steven E. Jones of Brigham Young University is already well known for his research and analysis of the evidence of thermite in the destruction of the three demolished towers of the World Trade Center on 9-11. A recently released 25-page scientific paper entitled "Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe," presents the physical evidence that an extremely powerful form of super-thermite was used to demolish the twin towers of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Super-thermite is a highly energetic form of thermite (iron oxide and aluminum) in which at least one component is in extremely fine, nanosize particles 100 nm or less, often along with silicon and carbon. Super-thermite is an extremely powerful explosive that releases much more energy per gram than any other conventional explosive used in demoliton.
The Jones study concludes that active super-thermite was found in four different samples of WTC dust tested:
Iron oxide appears in faceted grains roughly 100 nm across whereas the aluminum appears in thin platelike structures. The small size of the iron oxide particles qualifies the material to be characterized as nanothermite or super-thermite...Based on these observations, we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered in the WTC dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating nanotechnology, and is a highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive material.
The evidence that Jones and his team examined was in the form of very small particles found in four different samples of WTC dust. In each sample they found small pieces, or chips, that were composed of two layers, a red layer and a gray layer. The gray layer consisted mostly of iron oxide, while the red layer contained iron, oxygen, aluminum, silicon, and carbon -- all the components of super-thermite. The analysis and testing of the red and gray chips revealed that the super-thermite composite ignited at the surprisingly low temperature of 430 degrees Celsius and caused an explosive reaction which resulted in iron spheroids, exactly like thermite. This is to say that the heat-producing explosive reaction created temperatures hotter than 1400 degrees Celsius, the melting point of iron.
Two of the four chips tested released more energy by mass (kJ/g) than HMX, TNT, TATB explosives and normal thermite. These two chips released between 50 to nearly 100 percent more energy that the four conventional explosives. One of the chips released twice as much energy per gram (more than 10 Watts/g) than Xerogel, a similar super-thermite nanocomposite. The WTC chip released twice as much energy as the Xerogel and ignited at only 430 degrees C. rather than 530 degrees C. for the Xerogel. This indicates that the super-thermite found in the World Trade Center dust was an extremely powerful form of super-thermite.
HOW DID SUPER-THERMITE GET INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER?
Super-thermite, which has been fabricated at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other places, can be sprayed or even painted onto surfaces, effectively forming an energetic or even explosive paint, the study pointed out. “The sol-gel process is very amenable to dip-, spin-, and spray-coating technologies to coat surfaces," scientists from Lawrence Livermore wrote in a 2002 paper entitled "Energetic nanocomposites with sol-gel chemistry: Synthesis, safety, and characterization."
"The red chips we found in the WTC dust conform to their description of 'thin films' of 'hybrid inorganic/organic energetic nanocomposite'," the Jones paper says. "Indeed, the descriptive terms 'energetic coating' and 'nice adherent film' fit very well with our observations of the red-gray chips which survived the WTC destruction."
It is now evident that a super-thermite solution had been applied to large sections of the World Trade Center, including walls, floor sections, and structural beams and columns in the core section. It may have been applied as a thin spray coating applied under the guise of fire-proofing, asbestos abatement, or some other form of building maintenance. Super-thermite is safe to handle and only becomes dangerous when it is dry. Several years ago, I contacted Burton Fried, president of LVI, a demolition company that reportedly had done extensive "asbestos abatement" work in the twin towers. I considered LVI's work in the twin towers as suspicious because the company is primarily known for preparing structures for demolition and works closely with Controlled Demolition Inc. on large demolition projects. Is this the kind of work LVI did at the World Trade Center? Although Mr. Fried denied having done the work, it had been reported in a reputable engineering magazine that LVI had done extensive "asbestos abatement" work in the towers and the journalist who wrote the piece confirmed that the source of this information had been Fried himself. Freid's reaction, "I didn't do it," only increased my suspicions.
The published documentation of evidence of super-thermite in the dust of the World Trade Center has taken the 9-11 truth movement to a new level. If Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida did not spray super-thermite in the twin towers, who did?
Now that we know that super-thermite was used to demolish and pulverize the twin towers, we need to find out who applied the film of super explosive to surfaces and parts of the buildings. This certainly must have been a task that involved a team of men working for weeks, if not months, and their work must have been observed by other personnel involved in maintaining the buildings.
Engineering News-Record, "Industry Firms Pitch in for World Trade Cleanup While Others Account for Employees in Doomed Buildings," by Richard Korman and Debra Rubin and Gary Tulacz, September 13, 2001 (Report that LVI had done "extensive asbestos abatement work" in the twin towers)