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Aluminum-water chemical reactions caused Twin Towers collapse: expert

A mix of sprinkler system water and melted aluminum from aircraft hulls likely triggered the explosions that felled New York's Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, a materials expert has told a technology conference.

"If my theory is correct, tons of aluminum ran down through the towers, where the smelt came into contact with a few hundred litres of water," Christian Simensen, a scientist at SINTEF, an independent technology research institute based in Norway, said Wednesday. "From other disasters and experiments carried out by the aluminum industry, we know that reactions of this sort lead to violent explosions."

The official report blames the collapse on the over-heating and failure of the structural steel beams at the core of the buildings, an explanation Simensen rejects.

Given the quantities of the molten metal involved, the blasts would have been powerful enough to blow out an entire section of each building, he said. This, in turn, would lead to the top section of each tower to fall down on the sections below.

The sheer weight of the top floors would be enough to crush the lower part of the building like a house of cards, he said.

The aluminum-water scenario would also account for explosions from within the buildings just before their collapse that have fuelled conspiracy theories suggesting that the structures had been booby-trapped.

"The aluminum industry had reported more than 250 aluminum-water explosions since 1980," he said.

The aircraft carried 30 tonnes of aluminum into each of the towers, according to Simensen's calculations.

Simensen speculates that the two commercial jets were immediately trapped inside an insulating layer of building debris within the skyscrapers.

The debris - especially plaster, which blocks the transfer of heat - would have formed a shield protecting the rest of the building. At the same time, however, it would created a super-hot, oven-like zone around the aircraft, heated by burning fuel.

Aluminum alloy, which in jet hulls also contains magnesium, melts at 660 C. If heated to 750 C, the alloy "becomes as liquid as water," Simensen said. This molten aluminum could then have flowed downward through staircases and gaps in the floor, causing a chemical reaction with water from sprinklers on the levels below.

The mix would immediately boost temperatures by several hundred degrees, releasing combustible hydrogen in the process.

© Copyright © The Vancouver Sun

Family lost in Mass. corn maze calls 911 for help

Associated Press

DANVERS, Mass. — Authorities in Massachusetts say a family that got lost in a seven-acre corn maze called 911 for help, apparently taking advantage of the police department's motto that says "We Want To Be Bothered."

The maze at Connors Farm in Danvers has pathways totaling seven-miles long and can take up to an hour to navigate.

A police officer and his dog entered the maze with a farm manager on Columbus Day to search for the disoriented father, mother and two children, including a three-weeks-old infant. The family didn't realize they had almost made their way out and were just 25 feet from the street.

It took the search party about 10 minutes to find the family. They were helped by a police dispatcher who stayed on the phone with the caller and asked the couple to yell for help to enable those looking for them to identify their location.

"Never again!" the woman is heard telling the dispatcher on police tapes. "We thought this would be fun, instead it's a nightmare."

The family called police for help after sunset, shortly after the farm's closing time.

"Hi I just called, I'm still stuck at Connor's Farms, I don't see anybody I'm really scared, it's really dark and we've got a three-week-old baby with us," the woman is heard on police tapes telling the dispatcher.

Farm Manager Rich Potter said farm workers had not even checked to see if visitors were still making their way through the maze.

Potter said he only became aware that the family was lost in the maze when a police cruiser pulled up and an officer told him that some people had called for help.

It was not clear how long the family had been wandering through the long corn stalks before they called police, farm owner Bob Connors said.

"We were out in the parking lot and we didn't hear them, so they couldn't have been there too long — I think they got frustrated and called (police) on their own," Connors said. "They could see the street lights, they could hear the cars, they couldn't find their way out." CALL 911!!!!

"We don't want to see anybody get lost and panic and call 911," Connors said. "We constructed the maze for people to get lost and have fun, and 99.9 percent of people do have fun getting lost — but it's unfortunate that this party did get lost, it's got to be a positive family experience, that's our goal."

The maze has several guide posts with clues and posters instructing visitors to send text messages to receive additional guidance to help them make their way out.

"There is no way anybody should be stuck on that maze for any reason," Connors said.

Moviegoer sues: Not enough driving in 'Drive'
Lawsuit of the day: Sarah Deming of Michigan is suing FilmDistrict, the distributor of Ryan Gosling's flick “Drive,” because she wanted more driving in the film, CNN confirmed.

The suit also names Novi, Michigan’s Emagine Theaters, because Deming wants her money back. Deming hopes to get others involved in the suit so they too can recover the ticket cost. The complaint doesn't specify how much she is seeking, just that she allegedly suffered "damages including but not limited to the purchase price of the ticket."

Deming claims that the promotional material for the crime drama was misleading, suggesting the film would feature more action-y driving scenes.


“Drive,” by the way, tells the story of a Hollywood stunt driver (Gosling) who gets involved with a heist gone wrong. It does feature a good deal of action (and violence), but there are other elements to the film. For instance, a love story.

The suit alleges that the company "promoted the film ‘Drive’ as very similar to the ‘Fast and Furious,’ or similar, series of movies." But, Sarah was sad to learn, "’Drive’ bore very little similarity to a chase, or race action film… having very little driving in the motion picture."

Deming also claims the film is anti-Semitic, and that it “promoted violence against members of the Jewish faith.”

A spokesperson for FilmDistrict told CNN they don't comment on pending litigation.

Sarah Deming may not have liked “Drive,” but critics did. The movie earned a score of 93 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Check out the “Drive” trailer here.

Microsoft will make no more Zune music players, building its future music strategy on applications incorporated in its Windows Phone and Xbox platforms, the company has confirmed.

Rumors circulated in March that Microsoft planned to stop making dedicated music players, but the company ducked the issue then, saying this year's new Zune devices would be mobile phones running Zune software. It went on to release a trickle of applications for the Zune platform later in the year.

The company has now updated a help page at Zune.net to announce: "We will no longer be producing Zune players." Instead, the page said: "Going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy."

However, this will make no difference to current Zune users, the company said on the support page: "Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices."

Microsoft launched the first Zune players and Zune Marketplace music store on Nov. 14, 2006, as a challenge to Apple's iPod player and iTunes music store.

However, Apple moved the goalposts a couple of months later with its Jan. 9, 2007, announcement of the iPhone, a widescreen iPod that could also make phone calls and surf the Web.

It took Microsoft three years to follow suit. When it announced Windows Phone in February 2010, one of the features of the new mobile OS was a Zune music player app. It's also possible to access Zune music and video via Xbox Live, Microsoft's online service for its Xbox 360 game console.

Sales of the Zune have consistently trailed far behind those of the iPod. While not a definitive ranking, the list of best-selling MP3 players at Amazon.com is telling: Nine of the 10 best sellers are iPods (Sandisk has a $40 Sansa model in eighth place) and the first Zune device now appears at number 24, preceded by 16 iPod variants.