Steven Jones claims to have found evidence that thermite was used to collapse the World Trade Center. However, if you go to this site, you’ll see that this conclusion came from a test he ran on what he claims is some WTC dust and steel. Jones states he found mostly iron, with low amounts of chromium, manganese, and fluorine. They also found some aluminum and sulfur, which they state are expected from thermite reactions. This is technically true, but he fails to consider other sources for aluminum and sulfur.
There are problems with his claims, the first of which is where the steel actually came from. Jones claims the steel was sent directly to him, which creates a problem as that would be indicative of an unverifiable chain of custody. There’s no evidence that Jones’s correspondent gave accurate information as to the origin of the steel samples.
How the samples were treated after 9-11 needs to be considered as well. The dust and steel could have been contaminated after the collapse but before it got to Jones. No thermite was used in the cleanup, because that was too dangerous for the workers.
Jones makes a big deal about “uncommon elements, but it’s not really a surprise as the destruction of office buildings the size of WTC 1, 2, and 7 plus the resultant fires burning for months would produce numerous chemicals. As we see here, a USGS Survey found these elements in WTC dust samples: Silicon, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, aluminum, carbon (organic and carbonate), sodium, potassium, titanium, manganese, and phosphorus.
Sulfur, potassium, titanium, and manganese are the ones Jones uses to support his thermite claim, but as we see from here, there are perfectly plausible explanations for said elements that don’t require thermite and here they are: Silicon, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and other elements are from glass fibers, gypsum ( the drywall) accounts for calcium and sulfate, and so forth. Things like titanium, lead, etc can be explained by paint, and the organic carbon can be explained by paper, wallboard binder, it. In short, all elements are those one expects in the construction of a building.
Oh, and as for the aluminum, last time I checked, the planes had an aluminum frame. In addition, Steve Jones didn’t mention any barium nitrate, which is a much more significant portion of thermite than sulfur.
Fluorine can be explained by refrigerants used by the air conditioning system. Furthermore, if you go to 9/11Myths.com and scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see more evidence that the thermite claim is questionable. Simply put, Jones found some elements that are left by thermite, while ignoring the fact that there were other, more likely sources of those elements in the WTC, and when he combined it with the videos, Jones assumed that it was thermite. Steven Jones (and conspiracy theorist in general) would do well to remember the old adage as to why one should never assume.
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Here’s a great report (one of many) by our French friends disproving the nut jobs on thermite: http://11-settembre.blogspot.com/2007/04/real-world-tests-cut-through-steel.html
Hey, Andy thanks for the link. More goodies for me to use.
Andy, I went to that link and found some more great links. Thanks again.
You might also enjoy debunking911.com. Before National Geograghic, they were debunking the myths. They even have a special page on Mr. Jones: http://www.debunking911.com/jones.htm
Ah, Debunking911.com. You just named one of my favorite sources. Thanks, though. There’s so many 9-11 debunking sites out there, I’ve probably missed a few.
Anyway, now that you mention it, I recall reading in the link you provided that even BYU’s Physics Department’s ( where Jones used to work) response to Jones’s claims was essentially, “Say what?!!” Any other links you happen to come across would be appreciated. The more info, the better. 
Hi Victor, nice to see another debunker. I’m from the Screw Loose Change Blog, and I also recommend the James Randi Educational Forums and especially the Conspiracy Theory Subforum over there.
Hi, Pat, and welcome to FHK - we just added SLC to our blogroll!
We’ve added you as well. Happy debunking!
Hey, Pat, I’ve actually used your site for my information- haven’t used it here, at least not yet, but I have found your site, Screwloose Change to be very informative. Oh, and thanks for the other sources.
Andy, I think the first site you provided me is actually Italian, not French.
It’s still a very informative site, though.
Hi Victor,
I’m Henry62 and I confirm I’m Italian.
Welcome in our family!
Ciao,
Enrico (Henry62)
I forgot to say I’m the blogger of:
http://11-settembre.blogspot.com/
ps:
Hi Pat!
Henry62
Hi, Henry62! Very impressive blog! (We have our hands full just trying to get ours out in ONE language!) Anyway, welcome to FHK (you would have been welcome if you were French, too.) We’ve added your blog to our blog roll.
Thanks, Henry62. Your site is one of many I’ve found to be quite informative.
Why don’t you all get together and have a debunking orgy? The tone of all these ‘ohh I am a happy debunker, can I be your freind’ is pretty disturbing, sure enough you MIGHT be right, it may have been a ’simple collapse’, (except WTC7 throws that out the window), you may want to consider the other more sinister effects of 911, and that is the principle of cui bono, why is it that the Bush administration and all you authoritarian warmongers are living the high life now? The ‘terrorists’ NEVER get far because for the most part the majority of terrorism IS false flag. And most of the Islamic terrorism was a creation of the British empire, who is of course the most likely perpetrators of the crime, Cheney and Bush are shills for the NWO establishment operating out of London, and the Canadian intelligence did the op on 911 for the British empire. Their lust to see the US on it’s knees and the dollar collapsed so they can create a North American Union is very close thanks to 911.
Note: Some of Ipilskeptic’s remarks were edited by Ft. Hard Knox. We have a policy of not allowing profanity in our posts. Otherwise, comments are welcome. I did not delete the content of the message…just some of the language. FHK
Anyone with any brains knows that WTC 7 was damaged by debris from the collapsing north tower.
Yes debris is well known to cause buildings to collapse.
Way to debunk.
it was a COMBINATION of debris impact and fire that brought down WTC 7- I realize you and the rest of the “truthers” aren’t interested in facts.
More facts that you probably won’t be interested in, Dingo:
See the quote here, about 1/4 of the way down: http://www.debunking911.com/pull.htm
Firehouse: Did that chief give an assignment to go to building 7?
Boyle: He gave out an assignment. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but he told the chief that we were heading down to the site.
Firehouse: How many companies?
Boyle: There were four engines and at least three trucks. So we’re heading east on Vesey, we couldn’t see much past Broadway. We couldn’t see Church Street. We couldn’t see what was down there. It was really smoky and dusty.”
“A little north of Vesey I said, we’ll go down, let’s see what’s going on. A couple of the other officers and I were going to see what was going on. We were told to go to Greenwich and Vesey and see what’s going on. So we go there and on the north and east side of 7 it didn’t look like there was any damage at all, but then you looked on the south side of 7 there had to be a hole 20 stories tall in the building, with fire on several floors. Debris was falling down on the building and it didn’t look good.
But they had a hoseline operating. Like I said, it was hitting the sidewalk across the street, but eventually they pulled back too. Then we received an order from Fellini, we’re going to make a move on 7. That was the first time really my stomach tightened up because the building didn’t look good. I was figuring probably the standpipe systems were shot. There was no hydrant pressure. I wasn’t really keen on the idea. Then this other officer I’m standing next to said, that building doesn’t look straight. So I’m standing there. I’m looking at the building. It didn’t look right, but, well, we’ll go in, we’ll see.
So we gathered up rollups and most of us had masks at that time. We headed toward 7. And just around we were about a hundred yards away and Butch Brandies came running up. He said forget it, nobody’s going into 7, there’s creaking, there are noises coming out of there, so we just stopped. And probably about 10 minutes after that, Visconti, he was on West Street, and I guess he had another report of further damage either in some basements and things like that, so Visconti said nobody goes into 7, so that was the final thing and that was abandoned.
Firehouse: When you looked at the south side, how close were you to the base of that side?
Boyle: I was standing right next to the building, probably right next to it.
Firehouse: When you had fire on the 20 floors, was it in one window or many?
Boyle: There was a huge gaping hole and it was scattered throughout there. It was a huge hole. I would say it was probably about a third of it, right in the middle of it. And so after Visconti came down and said nobody goes in 7, we said all right, we’ll head back to the command post. We lost touch with him. I never saw him again that day.
http://www.firehouse.com/terrorist/911/mag…e/gz/boyle.html
Notice that it was the COMBINATION of the impact damage from the debris and intense fires that caused the WTC 7 collapse.
Now answer this question, Dingo: who should we believe- you or the person who was actually there. Here’s some salt to go with your crow.