The 9/11 Forum

Has anyone measure the height of the debris plume for each of the towers, that is the height it reached?

Many claims are made that it is an explosive event with material shot up as well as out. There was a recent GIF posted which illustrated the flat top.

Wasn't this huge debris canopy seen at the end of the period when the tops descended just at the onset of the bottom collapse?

Is the claim that the debris had large vertical impulses (explosions) an illusion, or was material part of the falling top) exploded as it reached the upper floors of the lower section.

Is the large plume spill over of the falling debris of the top onto the more or less resistive upper floor(s) of the lower section.

Can we conclude anything based on the radius and or shape which appears to extend outward about 200 or so feet from each facade. Or was it radial?

Why was there apparently little or no (certainly visible) damage to WTC 1 south facade from this debris since it was hardly over 100 feet from WTC 2 and would have been within the 200' range of material where it shot out of the south tower when it collapsed diosplaying this debris plume.

The debris plume descends at a rate faster than the visible collapse of the lower section. We can assume it was at free fall acceleration less air resistance and drops down with only peeling facade panels emerging (and few of them at that). What was all that material in the descending canopy of heavier than air falling debris?

Could we expect any columns to be "sprung" and move with great speed in a horizontal direction? Can we compute what speeds would be expected if this could occur? I assume it could only be seen if it encountered nothing in its path as it moved... such as another column which would slow it sufficiently to keep it within the descending debris cloud.

Since the tops were vastly different size (volume and mass) and the South tower showed a greater tilt in its descent wouldn't these debris plumes be of different sizes and even shapes? Were they?

SanderO wrote:There was a recent GIF posted which illustrated the flat top.

That's a side effect of the differential between the downward velocity of *free* dust and smoke, and ejecta from the already moving *crush fronts*...


The flat top in this image occurs without any upward motion of the ejected particles.

Why was there apparently little or no (certainly visible) damage to WTC 1 south facade from this debris since it was hardly over 100 feet from WTC 2 and would have been within the 200' range of material where it shot out of the south tower when it collapsed diosplaying this debris plume.

Debris ejecta was essentially emitted from the four sides of wtc 2, not really radially.

The debris plume descends at a rate faster than the visible collapse of the lower section.

Please clarify.

We are unable to see the end stages of the collapse as the debris plume descends and covers the lower floors of the towers.