Oh, Aluminum won't vaporize,...but Al(metal)+O2+heat gives you a lot of Al2O3 which is a lot of dust and a lot of heat as a bi-product, which can keep the chain reaction aluminum burning continuing,...oh aluminum doesn't burn,...lets call it oxidation then.
Note this in the same piece you linked to,..."But tiny aluminium particles will ignite under certain conditions, which makes aluminium ideal for making both rocket fuel and ultra lightweight space vehicles!" The U.S. Shuttle solid rocket boosters use amongst other things, aluminum metal fuels to launch the damned thing into outer space.
Haven't seen any news stories of too many identifiable aircraft aluminum parts coming out of the twin towers wreakage,...even though the press and site cameras are all over that. Why is that?
Then there is those light aluminum hulled destroyers the British Navy used in the Falkland Islands war,...just why did the French Exocete missiles set them on fire, uncontrollably?
http://www.stanford.edu/~lswartz/acad/falklands.pdf
Many also speculate that the aluminum hulls of the
Sheffield and other destroyers prevented adequate damage control and firefighting, because
aluminum melts at relatively low temperatures. A House of Commons committee directed to
investigate the conflict was extremely critical of “fire- and battle-damage control” on board the
various vessels; in particular, ruptured fuel tanks caused massive amounts of fire and smoke to erupt.24 As a result, new British ships have tanks as low as possible in the hull, and during the
Gulf War the British practiced assisting other ships with fire fighting.25
And why have so many aircraft fires once started burned their aluminum bodies up so uncontrollably, without even a crash,...these things were on the ground? One of those burned up planes was an Air Canada aircraft.
Something is amiss in chemistry land,...what could it be? Couldn't be exaggerative marketing of aluminum could it? |
