Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade

Center Catastrophe

Niels H. Harrit*,1, Jeffrey Farrer2, Steven E. Jones*,3, Kevin R. Ryan4, Frank M. Legge5,

Daniel Farnsworth2, Gregg Roberts6, James R. Gourley7 and Bradley R. Larsen3

1Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

3S&J Scientific Co., Provo, UT, 84606, USA

49/11 Working Group of Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47401, USA

5Logical Systems Consulting, Perth, Western Australia

6Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA

7International Center for 9/11 Studies, Dallas, TX 75231, USA

Abstract: We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in all the samples we have studied of the dust produced by the

destruction of the World Trade Center. Examination of four of these samples, collected from separate sites, is reported in

this paper. These red/gray chips show marked similarities in all four samples. One sample was collected by a Manhattan

resident about ten minutes after the collapse of the second WTC Tower, two the next day, and a fourth about a week later.

The properties of these chips were analyzed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy

dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The red material contains grains approximately

100 nm across which are largely iron oxide, while aluminum is contained in tiny plate-like structures. Separation

of components using methyl ethyl ketone demonstrated that elemental aluminum is present. The iron oxide and aluminum

are intimately mixed in the red material. When ignited in a DSC device the chips exhibit large but narrow exotherms occurring

at approximately 430 °C, far below the normal ignition temperature for conventional thermite. Numerous iron-rich

spheres are clearly observed in the residue following the ignition of these peculiar red/gray chips. The red portion of these

chips is found to be an unreacted thermitic material and highly energetic.http://www.benthamscience.com/open/tocpj/articles/V002/7TOCPJ.pdf