Comments by "Tom in Iowa" (@tominiowa2513) on "The Drydock - Episode 164" video.

  1.  @abrahamdozer6273  - It was admitted by the USG that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a complete fabrication. Interestingly, the son of then Captain (later Admiral) Morrison commanding the USN flotilla was a certain Jim Morrison who went from someone who had no interest in music to a "counter-culture" rock star (The Doors) overnight.
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  2.  @Drachinifel  - In a vacuum. In air the marshmallow would disintegrate and then burn up before going very far.
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  3. Look at aerial photographs of Bikini Atoll to see the size of hole a 15 MT equivalent explosion will make.
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  4. At the time floaty logs became relegated to second line duty.
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  5. If you want steel to explode, first make it into a very fine powder...
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  6. These things are not discussed on polite company since they are essentially religious in nature and cognitive dissonance means that no one's mind is ever changed.
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  7.  @gregorywright4918  - Think about the Tunguska event, massive object moving at hypersonic speeds disintegrates due to heat buildup from atmospheric friction. The only metal impact at speed that typically causes fires hot enough to cause other metals to melt or burn are DU sabot rounds, which in part is why they are such effective anti-tank weapons - penetrates the turret or hull armor, then cooks the crew. Hydrocarbon fuels do not produce hot enough fires to melt steel unless in an enriched oxygen environment. Collect some scrap steel and rent an oxy-acetylene welding setup to demonstrate.
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  8.  @michaelimbesi2314  - Yes, carbon steel transitions from a BCC to a FCC crystalline arrangement when heated to an austenitic state. However, you are wrong to think steel would be annealed by a building fire, much more likely normalized by cooling in ambient air (with possible localized quenching due to fire fighting efforts) - would be exceptional for the cooling rate to be slow enough for annealing. WTC 1 and 2 generally used moment connections, so analyses would need to be done with a method applicable to structurally indeterminate problems (since the number of connections is greater than the number of degrees of freedom in the structure). Remember that creating a surface requires energy due to breaking of bonds. Calculate the energy required to convert the intact WTC 1 and 2 towers in before and after states, and compare to the available energy from kinetic impact, kerosene fuel, and miscellaneous flammable materials.
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  9.  @gregorywright4918  - WTC 1 and 2 had a reinforced internal shear core that held the elevators, while the perimeter was tube section steel columns of decreasing wall thickness with building height.
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  10.  @gregorywright4918  - Explain the videos showing molten steel running out the sides of WTC 1 and WTC 2? N.b. I have no official opinion on the matter, since my real opinion is informed by things not in the public domain. I just like to play devil's advocate.
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  11.  @hughfisher9820  - Where are all the people offended about the several million casualties of the War on Terror, not to mention the almost complete destruction of the civilian and economic infrastructures of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria? All I hear on that is crickets chirping. I wonder why (no I do not, but not worth the consequences of going further).
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  12.  @gregorywright4918  - But the War on Terra (sic) escalated things by bringing the firepower of NATO on these countries (Libya was much better off under Qaddafi than the current civil war), as well of the looting of Iraq (about 2/3 of the oil exported since 2004 was stolen with no money going to the Iraqi people) by various parties and the looting of Syria by members of the Erdoğan clan (such as factories in Allepo having all their production equipment taken to Turkey, or conveys of oil tanker trucks headed to Turkey until the Russian Aerospace Forces blew them up). But to get back on topic, may we have the 5-second (more or less) guide to the history of the Afghanistan Navy?
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  13.  @gregorywright4918  - Blimps and dirigibles generally run very slightly heavier than air, and use lift from airfoils to make up the difference. This prevents unwanted altitude gain and also allows descending and landing.
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  14. No one alive knows for certain if scuttling measures were taken on KMS Bismarck, and if they were how much effect they had.
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  15. Remember what Lenin said about the best way to control the opposition was to be the opposition.
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