Collapse Rates of the WTC Consistent With Controlled Demolition

An argument against controlled demolition debunkers have raised is that the WTC did not collapse at free fall rates. It is well known that a free fall drop from the height of one of the Twin Towers would be about 9.2 seconds. I except that the Towers took closer to around 15 seconds to collapse, so to the layperson like myself the addition of a few seconds doesn't seem to make a huge difference. However, debunkers have noted it does in fact make a very big difference. They point out that in order for an object to free fall in 15 seconds, it would have to be dropped from a height more than twice that of either Tower.

I have decided that this argument is invalid because it assumes that controlled demolition causes a building to fall at free fall. This is hardly ever the case. However, this particular argument gave me an idea on how to figure out if the rate of the Towers' collapses was consistent with demolition.

A free fall drop of 15 seconds would be from a height of approximately 3617 feet. The Towers were approximately 1368 feet tall. 3617/1368 = 2.64
Therefore, a 15 second free fall drop would be from a height approximately 2.6 times higher than either of the Towers. Now let's do this with buildings that are all known demolitions.

15 story building. 155 feet tall. Free fall time would be approximately 3.1 seconds.



Its actual fall time was about 6.25 seconds. How tall would the structure have to be to free fall in that amount of time?



629/155 = 4.05
A 6.25 second free fall drop would be from a height about 4 times higher than this building.

30 story building. 380 feet tall. Free fall time would be approximately 4.86 seconds.



A free fall drop in 7.375 seconds would be from a height of about 875 feet.



875/380 = 2.3
A 7.375 second free fall drop would be from a height of over twice that of this building.

31 story building. 376 feet tall. Free fall time would be approximately 4.83 seconds.



A free fall drop in about 10 seconds would be from a height of about 1640 feet.



1640/376 = 4.4
A 10 second free fall drop would be from a height over 4 times higher than this building.

24 story building. Approximately 288 feet tall. Free fall time would be about 4.23 seconds.



A free fall drop in 8.4 seconds would be from a height of about 1139 feet.



1139/288 = 3.95
An 8.4 second free fall drop would be from a height about 4 times higher than this building.

20 story building. Approximately 240 feet tall. Free fall time would be about 3.86 seconds.



A free fall drop in 6 seconds would be from a height of about 590 feet.



590/240 = 2.45
A 6 second free fall drop would be from a height about 2 and a half times higher than building.

So, to summarize:

(15 story building) 629 ÷ 155 = 4.06 About four times higher

(30 story building) 875 ÷ 380 = 2.3 About two and a third times higher.

(31 story building) 1640 ÷ 376 = 4.4 Almost four and a half times higher.

(24 story building) 1139 ÷ 288 = 3.95 Almost four times higher.

(20 story building) 590 ÷ 240 = 2.45 Almost two and a half times higher.

And for the Towers:

3617 ÷ 1368 = 2.6 About two and a half times higher.

It was seem that, based on the debunkers' own arguments, the Towers evidently did fall in time intervals that would be considered consistent with buildings brought down with controlled demolition. But this is extremely problematic because:

a) Both of the collapses started from the upper sections of the buildings, not the bottoms.

and b) Supposedly no explosives were used to bring the buildings down according to the official story.

The only other example of a steel structured building collapsing from top-down due to fire is the partial collapse of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. This building was a 13-story structure that burned for over 7 hours. A section of its facade collapsed from the fire. Here's how long it took to collapse.



10 seconds for 13 stories to partially collapse. (13 stories equals approximately 160 feet) How tall would the structure have to be to free fall in 10 seconds?



About ten times taller.

In conclusion, the rate of fall of the Twin Towers appears to be consistent with the rate of fall for buildings brought down with controlled demolition. At the same time, their fall rates are inconsistent with the rate in which other steel framed buildings have fallen top to bottom from fire. So ask yourself, "what is more likely to have destroyed the buildings? Fire or explosives?" You decide.

Update:

This is extremely problematic in the case of Building 7.

47 story building. 610 feet tall. Free fall time would be 6.1 seconds.

See: Clarifying the Collapse Time of WTC 7



A free fall drop in 6.6 seconds would be from a height of about 701 feet.



701/610 = 1.1

A free fall drop of 6.6 seconds would be from a height less than 100 feet shorter than the height of Building 7. In other words, NIST would have us believe that fire accomplished something that even explosives don't always accomplish.