Comments on: Highway Collapse Spurs Bay Area Headache

Burning Fuel Truck Melts Section Of Heavily-Traveled Northern Calif. Freeway

[booyaw_77]

If it reache 2,700 degrees, don't you think the tar would melt?

[bernieb14]

HA!

I knew there would be an idiot still backing up the idiot Rosie O. talkingham is the one!!

Unbelievable!!

[talkingham]

Well not a one of you repub Bush supporters have named one other modern building in history that pancaked like the WTC and the 47-story building that wasn't struck by a jet. Not to mention the incredibly short burn time to the collapse.
Name one. Name one. Name one. Name one.
Name one. Name one. Name one. Name one.
Name one. Name one. Name one. Name one.
Name one. Name one. Name one. Name one.

[booyaw_77]

There is something.. truly stupid about them. About a republican..

[bernieb14]

booyaw_77

Can you please speak english!!

[booyaw_77]

"Now all you whiny a$$ libs are saying "Why do we have to make it political?" Give me a break!! Your big time lib representative conspiracy theorists like Rosie O and MoveOn.org are the ones who politicized that our own government actually bombed the Trade Centers to start a war with Iraq. If that isn't politicizing, I don't know what is."

What a bully doesn't realize is that he's a bully. He marches right in on the thermodynamics class.. And says: "YOU LISTEN TO ME!" "I'M IN CHARGE'A THIS HERE PLACE FROM NOW ON!" Not even see'n.. not even caring dat ders an experiment in anti-matter in the sink! "But sir!" They'll say. "SHUTUP!" "It's gonna explode, sir!" "SHUTUP! I'M IN CHARGE!"

[bernieb14]

From NPR News:

Heat exceeded 2,750 degrees and caused the steel beams holding up the interchange above to buckle. Bolts holding the structure together also melted, leading to the collapse, California Department of Transportation director Will Kempton said.

This ain't FOX!!

[bernieb14]

Now all you whiny a$$ libs are saying "Why do we have to make it political?" Give me a break!! Your big time lib representative conspiracy theorists like Rosie O and MoveOn.org are the ones who politicized that our own government actually bombed the Trade Centers to start a war with Iraq. If that isn't politicizing, I don't know what is.

[random_radar]

"California Department of Transportation director Will Kempton said intense heat from the flames caused the steel beams holding up the roadway to buckle and bolts holding the structure together to melt."

You can believe this uniformed opinion (or lie) if you want, but I will wait to hear the report of a competent structural engineer. Assuming the government allows one to assess the true causes of the collapse.

Just because one government official tells a lie to support another government official's lie doesn't mean you have heard the truth. Don't you think the government can see the opportunity to spin things? They are corrupt, not stupid.

[booyaw_77]

"Praise Jesus!" "Fix de potholes!" "Politics is local!" "We don't nationbuild!"

Whose dat?

[booyaw_77]

"I'm surprised they are smart enough to realize how stupid their arguments would be."

Let me ask ya something: If we had a war against potholes, like the republicans were supposed to have all along instead'a this... secret hidden stuff all the time thats really ultra-liberal, do you think we'd be in 2 wars, unbelievable debt, and with no one on our side post 9/11 right now? Or do ya think that this country's infrastructure is made outta rustless iron?

[oleander8]

[[Isn't it funny that all the libs are staying away from this story and the melted steel 9/11 conspiracy theory? I'm surprised they are smart enough to realize how stupid their arguments would be.
Posted by bernieb14]]

Anyone that can turn this into a political rant has a very vivid imagination. Not everthing is about politics.

[antoniof123]

Why do you wing nuts have to make it political. This is a tragic and I know that fuel will cause metal to soften and even melt. That is not the issue if you would stop and think before you make sure comments you would realize that people are going to suffer and this is what is the real problem not some somke and mirror.

[booyaw_77]

I have another theory. That wasn't gasoline. That was super-duper ultra secret mega high temperature burning fuel.

[bernieb14]

Isn't it funny that all the libs are staying away from this story and the melted steel 9/11 conspiracy theory? I'm surprised they are smart enough to realize how stupid their arguments would be.

[infidel_us]

Has Rosie O'Lardass accused Bush of this yet???

[bernieb14]

I can't wait to hear Rosie's next excuse from her big fat pie hole, excusing the terrorists from 9/11!! She is such a liberal idiot!!!

[charlemaine1]

The government likes you people uneducated. Keep it up. DO forget you SAW the jet fuel dissipating in a huge blaze of fire on September eleventh. And, while you're at it, forget they DO spare expenses when building our highways. (...what's that you just called me?? Oh, you betcha!!)

[mitdgreenb]

And, in a bridge or building collapse, we're not talking about BURNING the steel. In fact, you don't even have to MELT the steel completely into a liquid. At a high temperature, well below the melting point, the steel will soften... still solid but not strong enough to withstand the pressure of the weight of the bridge.

[mitdgreenb]

Yes, I like the "fuel can't melt steel" argument. It's generally made by people who are too young to have ever seen the thermite reaction. That reaction used to be done in high school chemistry classes... and every day on rail lines to fix cracks in situ. But, unfortunately, it occasionally explodes making it too dangerous to show students or for OSHA.

Let's review. In the thermite reaction, a match is used to light a magnesium ribbon. The magnesium burns hot enough to then, in turn, ignite a mixture of aluminum power and an oxidizer. (Sound like a solid rocket booster? It should.) The ALUMINUM then burns hot enough to reduce rust... plain old iron oxide... and the resulting molten iron comes out of the bottom of the crucible. Liquid iron is marvelous for fixing trian tracks.

In the above... the key is that one thing ignites another which burns hot enough to ignite another. Consider... how much aluminum was in just the planes that crashed into the WTC?