DADvocate

Instapundit pointed me to this video of Rosie ODonnell on The View going nuts about 9/11 and the collapse of the World Trade Center.

The most ridiculous and totally ignorant statement she makes, and she makes a lot, is this: "I do believe that it’s the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel."

Gosh, Rosie, how do you think they make steel? Did the steel need to melt for the building to collapse? No, Rosie, it did not. It just needed to get a little soft. How hard is it for steel to get soft? Well, blacksmiths have been softening steel and other metals for hundreds of years.

Popular Mechanics gives some details.

Steel melts at about 2,750 degrees Fahrenheit—but it loses strength at temperatures as low as 400 F. When temperatures break 1000 degrees F, steel loses nearly 50 percent of its strength. It is unknown what temperatures were reached inside WTC7, but fires in the building raged for seven hours before the collapse.

A few years ago, I checked out a book on pole buildings from the library. One of the photos in the book, to demonstrate structural strength, was a burned building in which charred polls and wood beams were still standing. Across one of the wood beams lay a steel I-beam, melted in a U-shape.

It's truly unfortunate that Rosie's stupidity has such a loud voice. It's nearly unbelievable that she is actually paid to air her stupidity. I've become a huge Donald Trump fan.

(Another hat tip to Instapundit for the easy links.)