2009-04-03 Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe

2009-04-03 \Niels H. Harrit\Jeffrey Farrer\Steven E. Jones\Kevin R. Ryan\Frank M. Legge\Daniel Farnsworth\Gregg Roberts\James R. Gourley\Bradley R. Larsen Open Chemical Physics Journal \9/11 anomalies\9-11/anomalies/collapse\PDFs http://www.bentham.org/open/tocpj/articles/V002/7TOCPJ.pdf Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe Abstract (The Open Chemical Physics Journal, Volume 2): "We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade Center. Examination of four of these samples, collected from separate sites, is reported in this paper. These red/gray chips show marked similarities in all four samples. One sample was collected by a Manhattan resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two the next day, and a fourth about a week later. The properties of these chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The red material contains grains approximately 100 nm across which are largely iron oxide, while aluminum is contained in tiny plate-like structures. Separation of components using methyl ethyl ketone demonstrated that elemental aluminum is present. The iron oxide and aluminum are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring at approximately 430 °C, far below the normal ignition temperature for conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic." Follow-up: Commentary: Publication of this paper appears to have sparked efforts by some editors at Wikipedia to dismiss criticism of the official account of events on 9/11: 2009-04-06 Wikipedia editors livid over new paper. References to the paper were reportedly removed, with the justification that the Open Chemical Physics Journal is not a reliable or mainstream source for scientific information. &ldquo;We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the destruction of the World Trade Center. ... Numerous iron-rich spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic.&rdquo;   
 * 2009-05-24 Interview with Dr. Harrit: not particularly insightful, but has some links and additional details
 * 2009-04-03 911 Blogger: Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe
 * 2009-04-04 The Raw Story: Study claims 'highly engineered explosive' found in WTC rubble by Stephen C. Webster
 * 2009-04-05 Daily Censored: Scientists find active ’super-thermite’ in WTC dust
 * 2009-04-11 911 Blogger 9/11 Media Breakthrough in Denmark
 * 2009-04-17 The Young Turks 9 scientists find Nano-Thermite Explosive in 9/11 sample: post comments include back and forth between one pro-anomalist who seems to make sense, and a small handful of trolls who make tentative pecks at refutation and then result to emotional arguments and invective when challenged
 * 2009-05-05 Herald.ie The O-Zone (regular column): "Needless to say, the story hasn't been widely reported anywhere in the mainstream media. Not possessed of the expertise to understand the science, The O-Zone can't really comment on the veracity of their claims. However, I found an online TV News interview on Denmark's national station with one of the main physicists, and he made a very interesting comment: "Two airplanes hit two skyscrapers on 9/11 -- yet three skyscrapers collapsed that day. Symmetrically." (Another building, WTC7, collapsed that day). .. Conspiracy theory? Of course -- yet another one. But anybody who still believes the official Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld version of events truly needs their head examined."
 * 2009-05-05 commentary, including much discussion of the pejorative use of the phrase "conspiracy theory" and possibilities for counteracting such use