> At best, I think a more accurate version of your analogy 
> would be running your Suburban into your Tahoe, not your dog. 
> Actually, it'd be more like running your suburban into a line 
> of Tahoe's, parked nose to nose and expecting to crush 
> through all of them to the last one without slowing down 
> much. Pretty ridiculous. But very much equivalent to the 
> official explanations.


It would work better if you piled the Tahoes (Google says SUV?) on top of
each other.  That way they have a bit of potential energy, which they don't
have sitting on the ground.

Actually, that sounds like something Brainiac* should do, stack a dozen
caravans on top of each other and blow one up.

That's the problem with analogies, they don't scale up.  A stack of caravans
just isn't a bloody great big building.  A better one may be to use the
humble aluminium can.

Everyone has done the trick of standing on it, marvelling at its strength,
and been amused by how it gets crushed flat when you tap the side.  I'm
around 65kg, and they easily support my weight.  My brother out-weighs me by
25kg or so, and they hold him up too.  Ditto for small children.

So, stack 10 or so cans on top of each other, stand on it, and tap one.
What will happen?  The tapped one will get crushed, but what of the rest?
Will they pancake, or did the one that failed absorb enough energy to
prevent more damage?  It's hard enough to model that, let alone anything
bigger.

I've tried with 2 or 3 cans, but you can't balance on them.  Duct tape!
Almost makes me want to run out and buy a couple of slabs** of Coke.

Anyway, the perfect real-world test exists.  A 41 (?) storey building at the
WTC, damaged but still standing, is due to be demolished shortly.  I think a
petition needs to be made to fill it with office furniture, torch it and see
what happens.

Tony


*British yob version of Mythbusters.  Obsessed with caravans.

**Slab = carton of beer.  From Victoria in Australia, people think it's a
fabulous term so it's spread countrywide.  I think the Poms have picked it
up too.  No doubt a Kiwi will pipe up and claim they invented it. 

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