This. I love the foil hats that say it was able to withstand that. Maybe, a much smaller plane and.....THEORETICALLY. Nobody ever thought it would happen, and certaiy not a jumbo jet loaded with fuel being used as a missile.
To put 3.5 billion ft/lbs of energy into perspective, let's look at the Navy's new electromagnetic rail gun. It launches a 7 lb projectile at 5400 mph. That's roughly 6.8 million ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle. Not on impact, but at the muzzle.
The 767 delivered around 3.5 billion ft/lbs of energy spread out over the area of impact zone, and decreased in energy as it went through the building. The Navy's railgun delivers about 2 one thousanths the energy of the 767, or about 0.19% the energy. You would need about 515 of the Navy's 7 lb projectiles launched at the same time, at 5400 mph to equal the energy delivered by the 767 that impacted the building.
Does anyone think that maybe, just maybe the structural beams inside the building were completely fucked? Just maybe?
