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Originally Posted by buddle
I agree with Fastom
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I don't. From what I understand, it was pretty much inevitable that the building would collapse straight down, absent an ENORMOUS force pushing the top so far as to put the center of gravity outside the shell of the building.
The tree analogy is, IMO, not a good one. Trees fall because the support on one side is taken out, and the axe ultimately cuts deep enough into the tree that what remains is unable to hold up the trunk.
WTC's collapse was ultimately the result of a structural failure within the building. Imagine, if you will, a tree having a gash in the side, and then the center of the trunk collapsing. That tree is falling down on itself, not to the side. At least, that's what happens for the first instant, which brings me to my second point.
When a tree falls, it doesn't crumble on itself. It stays as one big log. So when a tree falls, the trunk drops until it hits an imovable object (either the still-standing bottom half of the trunk or the ground), and then tips over based on where the center of gravity is. (I suppose it is theoretically possible for a tree to fall at just the angle at which it balances on the cut end of the trunk, but.....)
WTC, however, crumbled as it fell. So it fell collapsed upon itself.
Bringing it back to the thread topic: this is also a pretty good explanation of why WTC7 collapsed as neatly as it did.