Falling Concrete Experiment

Does Concrete Really Pulverize into Dust when it Falls?

Principal Investigator: Professor R. Shaddock

Safety Checker and Witness: R. Stone Esq.

Safety Checker and Camera person: D. McCarthy

Abstract: This experiment is to test the hypothesis that concrete pulverizes in to dust when it falls, as claimed by the official 9/11 Commission Report about the World Trade Centers.  If concrete turns to dust so easily, the world needs to find a stronger, non-exploding building material.  Blocks of concrete were purchased to fall from a 5th floor balcony.  It was found that the concrete cracked, but did not create a significant amount of concrete dust.  Thus, this ground breaking study is a Myth Buster, as well as a concrete buster. We need a new investigation commission, with scientists not politicians, to find out what really happened on September 11, 2001.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that concrete pulverizes in to dust when falling on to other slabs of concrete, as it did at the World Trade Center sites on September 11, 2001.  A literature review did not locate a similar study, so we decided to do this ground breaking, or at least concrete 

breaking, study.

David Ray Griffin PhD, speaking at the University of Wisconsin, said:

"Try this. Get a piece of concrete and drop it, a little over 1000 feet, and see if it pulverizes in to very fine dust. It won't happen."  YouTube.com    21:00 minutes point

Materials: Balcony, video camera, 2 concrete blocks (top and bottom).  The original plan for the experiment was to use concrete blocks with nano-thermite explosives in it, as was found in the World Trade Center dust.  The Home Depotstaff did not know of any in stock, nor when they might have any for sale.  So the experiment had to be done with regular standard concrete slabs.

Methodology:  A concrete landing block was placed at the bottom of a balcony at a condominium complex.  Another concrete block would be dropped on top of it, from a distance of 50 feet, or 15.24 meters.  The fall was recorded on video for the scientific community to review.

Safety Precautions:  For anyone who replicates this experiment, be sure to remember "safety first before science."  An orange safety cone was placed on the side walk to warn possible pedestrians.  A watchman was posted to make sure no one walked in the way during the experiment, especially the Condo Manager or Security.  A concrete block was dropped from the 5th floor balcony and the results were photographed.

Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that the concrete would completely pulverize in to clouds of dust, as was found on 9/11.  We would expect to find that dust will blanket the condo grounds, without any large chunks of concrete. Only a small broom, dust pan, and possibly a vacuum cleaner should be necessary for cleanup.  This experiment should replicate the events of 9/11, and confirm the conclusion of the official 9/11 Commission Report.

Huge billowing clouds of concrete dust spread for miles from Ground Zero

A thick layer of concrete dust blankets everything in lower Manhattan Island.

Red and gray layers of explosives in the dust (AlFeO2) as seen under an electron microscope

Results:

Materials from wife's flower table are better used for for the purpose of science.		Position the "target" landing block on the grass, to protect the sidewalk			Position an orange landing cone for safety first to warn any pedestrians.
Concrete block to be dropped		Position block to be dropped			Watch out for any pedestrians
Ready to drop	Just dropped		At the 4th floor	At the 2nd floor		Hits bottom. Crack!
Dropping the concrete block to the landing site, marked by the orange safety cone. (Click for AVI video)
View of the concrete smashed in to bits		Result of concrete dropped from above			Large chunks were intact.  No significant dust.
The hypothesis failed that there would only be dust to clean up.  There were large chunks.		Conclusion of experiment shows concrete chunks on the ground.			Condo Maintenance man came by to remove the concrete chunk experiment samples

Calculations: The concrete fell 5 floors, at 10 feet per floor, for a distance of 50 feet, or 15.24 meters.  The rate of fall was approximately 32 feet per second per second, or 9.8 meters per second squared.  The duration of the fall was timed at about 2.1 seconds.  At impact, the concrete slab was traveling at a rate of 64 feet per second, or 43.64 miles per hour, or 70.23 kilometers per hour.

There were large pieces of concrete, and only a small amount of concrete dust.

Conclusion: Despite the hypothesis, and the conclusions of the official 9/11 Commission, concrete does not crumble in to dust when falling on to concrete, at least from 50 feet.  A replication study should be done with the same thickness of concrete that the World Trade Center had. 

Therefore, we have "concrete evidence" that the Official Conspiracy Theory (OCT) of the 9/11 Commission was not scientific, and contained errors that can be shown by simple home experiments.  It indicates that the Government is covering up something from the American citizens.  The conclusion that concrete does not pulverize without explosives, based on an easily replicable study (simply drop a block of concrete and see for yourself), is on solid ground.

Some other explanation is needed to explain the voluminous clouds of concrete dust found at Ground Zero.  One explanation that explains it perfectly is controlled demolition, using pre-planted nano thermite explosives in the World Trade Center buildings, during the largest elevator modernization project in history done by ACE Elevator Company under the supervision of SecuriCom security services during the months up to 9/11/2001.  We verified at Home Depot that it is not easy for terrorists to buy this controlled explosive substance.  Further experiments and another formal 9/11 investigation should focus on that explanation.