 By Matt Sullivan / RCFP
By Matt Sullivan / RCFP
Scientists have detected flecks of  undetonated explosives in four samples of dust from the World Trade Center  catastrophe. A paper just published in the peer-reviewed Open Chemical Physics  Journal describes the findings of nine scientists after 18 months of  work.
The paper is titled “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust  from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe”. The primary authors are Niels  Harrit, professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, and Jeffrey  Farrer, professor of Physics at Brigham Young University (BYU), Provo,  Utah.
The research was initiated when Dr. Steven Jones, then also at BYU,  observed small red/grey chips in the magnetic fraction of dust he was analyzing  from the WTC disaster. The scientists studied four independently collected  samples of dust. One sample was collected by a Manhattan resident about ten  minutes after the collapse of the second WTC tower, two samples were collected  the next day, and a fourth was collected 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).
 After careful study of the material the scientists  concluded that the red component of the bi-layer chips is a high-tech explosive  nano-material known as super-thermite. The material is composed of ultra-fine  grains of iron oxide intimately mixed with nano-sized aluminum metal in a matrix  of silicon and organic compounds. While thesevery small (typically less than a  millimeter) tests show that the material is highly energetic and can be ignited  to produce a micro-explosive effect. The observed properties and composition of  the thermitic material appears to match the published descriptions of  nano-thermite fabricated at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and  elsewhere. These high-tech explosives were relatively new at the time of the  disaster, with some of the first published descriptions appearing in the  literature in the late 1990s.
After careful study of the material the scientists  concluded that the red component of the bi-layer chips is a high-tech explosive  nano-material known as super-thermite. The material is composed of ultra-fine  grains of iron oxide intimately mixed with nano-sized aluminum metal in a matrix  of silicon and organic compounds. While thesevery small (typically less than a  millimeter) tests show that the material is highly energetic and can be ignited  to produce a micro-explosive effect. The observed properties and composition of  the thermitic material appears to match the published descriptions of  nano-thermite fabricated at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and  elsewhere. These high-tech explosives were relatively new at the time of the  disaster, with some of the first published descriptions appearing in the  literature in the late 1990s.
The scientists begin the paper with an  explanation of their motivation for pursuing the research. “The destruction of  three skyscrapers (WTC 1, 2 and 7) on September 11, 2001 was an immensely tragic  catastrophe that not only impacted thousands of people and families directly,  due to injury and loss of life, but also provided the motivation for numerous  expensive and radical changes in domestic and foreign policy. For these and  other reasons, knowing what really happened that fateful day is of grave  importance.”
While several government agencies, including NIST (National  Institute of Standards and Technology) produced reports on the collapse of the  three World Trade Center buildings, they pointedly did not analyze the debris  for the presence of explosives. This omission is at odds with the requirement of  the national standard for fire investigation (NFPA 921), which calls for testing  related to thermite and other pyrotechnics. It is also at odds with the video  evidence of explosions, and the testimony of fire department personnel, more  than 100 of whom officially reported hearing or seeing explosions. NIST also  failed to explain the source of large quantities of molten metal in the WTC  rubble, or the abundant amounts of iron microspheres in the dust. 
NIST spokesperson Michael Neuman was  challenged by Hartford Advocate reporter Jennifer Abel on this glaring omission  in the WTC report…
ABEL: … what about that letter where NIST said it didn’t look for  evidence of explosives?
NEUMAN: Right, because there was no evidence of  that.
ABEL: But how can you know there’s no evidence if you don’t look  for it first?
NEUMAN: If you’re looking for something that isn’t there,  you’re wasting your time….
And NIST cannot claim that it is  unfamiliar with the nano-thermitic materials. Several of the lead 9/11  investigators at NIST collaborated with Lawrence Livermore National Lab, in the  late 90s, to test and characterize sol-gel preparations of high-power thermitic  materials. Arden Bement, the former deputy secretary of defense who was  appointed director of NIST by President Bush immediately after 9/11, was a  metallurgist and expert on fuels and materials and former director of DARPA’s  office of materials science and a former executive at TRW. He would be expected  to be familiar with nano-thermite since DoD and DARPA are lead agencies in its  development and TRW supplies NASA with advanced propellants including  nano-gelled thermite.
[In an interesting side note: Bement was also a  director of Battelle Corporation which was most likely the source of the  weaponized anthrax spores used in the anthrax attacks of 2001.]
Some of  the same individuals and organizations contracted by DoD and DARPA to develop  nano-thermitic materials were selected by the Bush administration to investigate  the collapse of the towers and Building 7. What the Scientists Found
The  red/grey chips were found to be present in all samples of fine WTC dust analyzed  to date. While the grey layer is the subject of ongoing investigation, the  current paper focuses on the red layer. Very high magnification electron  microscopy of the layer reveals a sponge-like structure composed of very small  particles of several types. By using XEDS, researchers were able to map the  elemental composition of the material. Iron oxide particles, shown as white in  the image above, are fairly uniform in size and shape and about 100 nanometers  long while the metallic aluminum appears as plate-like structures about 50  nanometers thick and up to a micron (1000 nanometers) in length. Other elements  such as silicon and carbon were also detected in the red layer. This is  significant because the presence of carbon in the material would supply the hot  gas reaction products needed to turn the thermitic material from an incendiary  into a low explosive. The authors avoided describing the material as “explosive”  because the flakes studied are too small to assess the bulk properties of the  material.
To test the power of this thermitic material, small samples  were heated in a Differential Scanning Calorimeter, a very sensitive device for  detecting the heat generated by a chemical reaction. The samples ignited at  about 430ÂșC and generated as much or more heat than an equal mass of high  explosive such as TNT. They also produced, as a reaction product, tiny metallic  iron microspheres, just like the iron microspheres found in abundance in all  samples of WTC dust as previously reported by USGS, FEMA and  NIST.
Conclusions
“The chips are clearly a nano-engineered  material with two types of extremely small particles, each highly consistent in  shape and size, held in close stable proximity by a durable matrix which is  laminated to a hard homogeneous material. The student of energetic materials  will appreciate that this description matches exactly that of a super-thermite  in which the reactant particles are suspended in a sol-gel matrix applied to a  substrate.” (Jim Hoffman, 2009)
 Sol-gels of nano-thermites are described in the literature as being  very stable and safe to handle in liquid form. They can be applied to surfaces  by spray or even paintbrush. It is entirely possible that the explosives were  applied to the building disguised as a paint or as a spray-on fireproofing.
Sol-gels of nano-thermites are described in the literature as being  very stable and safe to handle in liquid form. They can be applied to surfaces  by spray or even paintbrush. It is entirely possible that the explosives were  applied to the building disguised as a paint or as a spray-on fireproofing. 
Researcher Kevin Ryan has previously  published a paper (Journal of 9/11 Studies) noting the extreme coincidence that  the floors in the towers where structural failure was initiated exactly  correspond to the floors where fireproofing had recently been “upgraded” in 1999  and 2000. (See diagram)
Researchers have estimated, based on the weight  of red/grey chips found in the four samples tested, that these chips make up as  much as 0.1% of the mass of the fine dust produced on 9/11. While it is  difficult to estimate the total mass of fine dust produced that day, the dust  did cover Manhattan from river to river and for several miles in all directions.  The dust mass was certainly at least several thousand tons (estimates range as  high as 30,000 tons) which would mean several tons of the red/grey material is  involved. 
How did several tons  of unexploded super-thermite end up in the dust of the World Trade Center  disaster?
Check out these interviews by Niels  Harrit, professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen
1. Niels Harrit Part 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x73G2eMkBpw&feature=related
 
2. Niels Harrit Part 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzSxtnA7pr4&feature=related
3. Scientist Niels H. Harrit presents evidence of nano-thermite found in WTC dust on Danish television 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56KFHIq6KZM&feature=related
4.  Niels Harrit - The London Interview (part 1) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDu8HFn5weE&feature=related
 
5. Niels Harrit - The London Interview (part 2) 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnBT3SwMRQE&feature=related
6. Niels Harrit - The London Interview (part 3) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JoeMq-1Ux8&feature=related