A frustrated Georgia blacksmith made a video to debunk a common argument made by 9/11 sceptics that “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams.” The viral video racked up more than two million views in just a day.
The screen opens with a shot of a blacksmith shop, as Trenton Tye strides into view. Staring at the camera, he says, “I’ve taken time out of my busy day to try and put to rest one of the more moronic things I have seen on the internet lately.”
Tye of the Georgia-based Purgatory Iron Works explains that he has heard through his Facebook feed “that old tired argument” that jet fuel burns at 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, but that the melting point of steel is 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, 9/11 sceptics argue that the official explanation for the collapse of the World Trade Center of during the September 11 terrorist attacks must be wrong, and there must be another, more nefarious explanation.
“I am so sick and tired of this argument,” Tye says to the camera.
Tye stated that he doesn’t care about whether or not 9/11 “conspiracy theories” are true.
“What I am upset about is the retarded metallurgical things you guys are saying,” he says. “I am not arguing the facts… but if you hold this up as a reason for a conspiracy, you are an idiot.”
Tye then shows that by heating a piece of structural steel to around 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, the steel essentially loses its structural integrity long before it ever melts.
“Check it out, it’s a freakin’ noodle!” he added before tossing the piece of steel to the ground. “Your argument is invalid. Get over it. Find a job.”
Popular Mechanics said Tye’s demonstration was entertaining, but slightly flawed.
“He openly admits that the forge he was using heated the steel beam several hundred degrees above the temperature at which jet fuel burns,” the magazine observed. “That, and he doesn’t say how long the beam has been in the forge, or offer any evidence of the forge’s actual temperature. His little experiment here is more party trick than perfect simulation.”
The magazine is no defender of 9/11 skeptics, however, and has done its own debunking experiments.