Following the World Trade Center collapses thermal hot spots with temperatures in excess of 700°C existed deep within the wreckage of the buildings. These temperatures were sustained for a long period of time.

Image source: USGS Spectroscopy Lab The temperature at the core of "the pile," is near 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to fire officials, who add that the fires are too deep for firefighters to get to. [ABC News, 9/18/01] "This is how it's been since day one...and this is six weeks later. As we get closer to the center of this it gets hotter and hotter - it's probably 1500 degrees."  WMV video download (616kB) "Out on the rubble it's still, I believe, 1,100 degrees. The guys boots just melt within a few hours."   WMV video download (130kB)

In perfect conditions the maximum temperature that can be reached by hydrocarbons such as jet fuel burning in air is 1520° F (825° C). When the World Trade Center collapsed the deeply buried fires would have been deprived of oxygen and their temperatures would have significantly decreased.

Why was the temperature at the core of "the pile" nearly 500° F hotter than the maximum burning temperature of jet fuel a full seven days after the collapses? There were no infernos in either of the twin towers before they collapsed, so what caused the hot spots deep in their wreckage?

What caused the steel to melt? How did it stay molten for months after the collapses?

One of the more unusual artefacts to emerge from the rubble is this rock-like object which has come to be known as "the meteorite". "This is a fused element of molten steel and concrete all fused by the heat into one single element." WMV video download (376kB) Melted police guns and concrete retrieved from the World Trade Center wreckage [Details]

Conventional fires cannot account for the above, but thermite can.

A thermite reaction generates extraordinarily high temperatures (>2500° C) and provides a credible explanation for the fires, hot spots and molten steel (a by-product of the thermite reaction) found in the collapsed buildings.

"Anyone who has ever watched a building being demolished on purpose knows that if you're going to do this you have to get at the under-infrastructure of the building to bring it down" Peter Jennings, ABC News 9/11/2001. WMV video download (171kB).   "If I were to bring the towers down, I would put explosives in the basement to get the weight of the building to help collapse the structure" Mark Loizeaux, president, Controlled Demolition Inc.

The fact that the core of WTC 1 failed below the third floor indicates the above occurred, as does the following:

"I guess about three minutes later you just heard explosions coming from building two, the south tower. It seemed like it took forever, but there were about ten explosions." [Craig Carlsen -- Firefighter (F.D.N.Y.)] Video documenting nine explosions at the base of WTC 2 prior to its collapse. WMV video dowenload (2.8 MB) When the rescue team reached an area directly in front of Tower Two, Antonio said he'd take over the equipment cart Will had pushed from Building 5. ... The team moved ahead. ... Suddenly the hallway began to shudder as a terrible deafening roar swept over them. That's when Will saw the giant fireball explode in the street. [bowhunter.com] As Ron DiFrancesco ran away [from WTC 2] he was hit by a fireball ... he was probably the last person out alive. "I saw the fireball and heard a loud noise. That's all I remember..." WMV video download (291kB) "All of a sudden I heard a roar and I saw one of the towers blow ... I saw from street level as though it exploded up, a giant rolling ball of flame..." WMV video download (392kB) Same reporter: "I hear simultaneously this roar and see what appears to be a gigantic fireball rising up at ground level . . . I remember seeing this giant ball of fire come out of the earth as I heard this roar" [Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11 - P 239] Survivor in WTC 1 stairwell during WTC 2 collapse: "...and all of a sudden this huge cloud of dark grey smoke comes shooting up the stairway ... and it was hot - very, very hot." WMV video download (201kB) White smoke emerging from the dust cloud of the collapsing WTC 2.   WMV video download (341kB) "CNN is now reporting that there was a third explosion, probably an explosion from the ground, that caused World Trade Center [2] to collapse on top of itself." "There was an explosion … the third explosion the whole lobby collapsed on us ... definitely a secondary explosion." "...I heard a ground level explosion [at WTC 1] and I'm like holy shit, and then you heard that twisting metal wreckage again." [James McKinley - E.M.T. (E.M.S.)] "I was standing next to 1 World Trade Center and then all of a sudden I heard rumbling and we all started running away from it. The glass like blew out and threw me onto the sidewalk ... and I couldn't see for like twenty seconds..." WMV video download (513kB) White smoke at the base of WTC 1 seconds before its collapse. Video with zoom: 582kB wmv download Video without zoom: 1.4MB wmv download

Thermite gives off dense white smoke with very little odor.

Video of smoke rising from the World Trade Center wreckage.   WMV video download (121kB)

The smoke rising from the wreckage should have been black, not white.

The wreckage of WTC 2 radiated the greatest heat on September 16, 2001. Thermite detonations would account for this.

A thermite reaction generates large amounts of ultraviolet radiation:

The core column shown above the firefighter was discovered after the collapse. The angled cut occurs in exactly the manner that shaped charges slice through steel beams to control the way they fall. Notice the hardened once liquid metal. Was thermite used with the shaped charge?