Ray,
As I said, I don't know how credible the piece is. OTH, if you've had to fool around with any of the recent code changes on pressure treated lumber, the problems encountered with dissimilar metals can evidently be rather dramatic. As an ex-plumber, I'm sure you're aware of the problems caused by direct contact with steel pipe and copper.
I recall a garage footing set up I had to do over (after I thought it was perfect) because the inspector wouldn't allow the use of rebar stakes driven into the ground to suspend the reinforcing rebar. At the time I thought he was crazy, until I spent several hours researching the topic. What I found was that rebar, under certain circumstances, can and will decay at an alarming rate as a result of something along the lines of electrolysis. One account I ran across described 5/8 rebar completely destroyed in less than 5 years; not crumbly, just plain gone.
I honestly don't know a whole lot about the process beyond what little I remember from grade school science projects. Even back then the process struck me as unlikely to work (Stick a couple pieces of metal in a bucket of salt water to make electricity? Yeah, right.), but they seemed rather proud of their theories, and since it appeared to work, I decided to go along with the gag. Could something similar have happened to some extent at the WTC? I have no idea, but I thought the concept was interesting enough to toss into the discussion, and I thought the implications might be equally interesting. The idea of setting fire to one's own buildings to avoid costly repairs, and to collect a ton of insurance money in the process, is hardly a new concept in the way of insurance fraud scams.
I don't have a very high opinion of Rense either. I've seen a few pieces that were dead on the money, and others that were ridiculous. I couldn't get any of the graphics to come up on the link you posted, so I wasn't able to follow exactly what you mentioned in the way of how the aluminum was attached to the steel. If I understand the process, any contact is enough to complete the circuit. Considering the size of the building, a little bit of contact on each piece is still a lot of contact.
RE: "Don't get your knickers in a twist here."
Knickers? Being an article of women's clothing, I would tend to question the orientation of anyone who would assume I wear such. Does exploring new ideas cause such garments to twist? That strikes me as being even more difficult to believe than that it's possible to make electricity by sticking two pieces of metal in salt water. Do you have a link handy or should I assume you are an expert witness on bloomer related psychokinetic activity? |
