White-Hot Evidence of Demolition

NIST describes a "bright white" flame in World Trade Center 2 (the South Tower) shortly before it collapsed:

An unusual flame is visible within this fire. In the upper photograph in Figure 9-44 a very bright WHITE flame, as opposed to the typical yellow or orange surrounding flames, which is generating a plume of white smoke, stands out. The intensity of this flame is considerably brighter than normal flames.

(p. 48).

Color is the result of temperature:

Metal Temperature by Color					Color Scale of Temperature
color	approximate temperature				color	Temperature
	°F	°C	K			°C	K
faint red	930	500	770		incipient red heat	500 - 550	770 - 820
blood red	1075	580	855		dark red heat	650 - 750	920 - 1020
dark cherry	1175	635	910		bright red heat	850 - 950	1120 - 1220
medium cherry	1275	0690	0965		yellowish red heat	1050 - 1150	1320 - 1420
cherry	1375	0745	1020		incipient white heat	1250 - 1350	1520 - 1620
bright cherry	1450	0790	1060		white heat	1450 - 1550	1720 - 1820
salmon	1550	0845	1115		["This table is the result of an effort to interpret in terms of thermometric readings, the common expressions used in describing temperatures. It is obvious that these values are only approximations."]
dark orange	1630	0890	1160
orange	1725	0940	1215
lemon	1830	1000	1270
light yellow	1975	1080	1355
white	2200	1205	1480
Sources: Process Associates of America				&	Handbook of Chemistry & Physics, 1924

The "very bright white flame" observed by NIST, under the most generous possible interpretation, was really "light yellow" on the chart on the left or "incipient white" in the chart on the right.

So, bottom line, the flame was at least 1975 degrees Fahrenheit.

See also this chart:

How Hot Were the Fires?

Were the fires in the Twin Towers that hot?

Well, NIST itself says that paint tests indicated low steel temps -- 480 Fahrenheit -- "despite pre-collapse exposure to fire". NIST also said that microstructure tests showed no steel reached critical (half-strength) values of 600 Celsius (1112 degrees Fahrenheit) for any significant time.

And Thomas Eager, a Professor of Materials Engineering and Engineering Systems at MIT and a defender of the official story, concluded that the temperatures in the Twin Towers never exceeded 800 Celsius (1472 degrees Fahrenheit). Additional evidence that the fires were not that hot is here.

Conclusion: The flames produced by normal means in the Twin Towers did not get up to 1975 degrees Fahrenheit, and the WTC fires were not hot enough to produce a observed white-to-bright-yellow flame without the use of explosives.

Here's a celsius-fahrenheit calculator to help you with conversions.