The 9/11 File/CASE 20/2009 – 2026

The buildings

Thermite and the red-gray chips

The 2009 paper, the journal editor who quit, and NIST’s estimate

RECORD / AT A GLANCE

Unproven

The chips exist and the authors’ tests are published. Whether they are thermite or paint primer has not been settled by independent replication in a mainstream journal. NIST estimates that cutting the columns with thermite would have taken thousands of pounds of it, and no one has explained how it could have been placed.

THE EVENTS / THE INVESTIGATION / THE STORY

The chronology.

READ THE FILE

Evidence & assessment.

01

What the paper says

Red-gray chips that ignite at 430°C.

↗02

The objections

The journal, the primer theory and the quantities.

↗

Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

2 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.

DOCUMENTED The towers, WTC 7 & demolition

“The editor of the journal that published the thermite paper resigned over it.”

Marie-Paule Pileni said she had not been told it would appear and resigned.

Who says it: Videnskab.dk.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

UNPROVEN The towers, WTC 7 & demolition

“Thermite was found in the dust.”

A 2009 paper reported red-gray chips it called “unreacted thermitic material.” No independent study in a mainstream journal has confirmed it; critics say the chips are primer paint.

Who says it: Harrit, Jones and co-authors.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

All 162 rated claims ↗

OPEN THE RECORD

Sources & limits.

Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.

  1. Harrit et al., The Open Chemical Physics Journal, 2009: Active thermitic material discovered in dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center catastrophe ↗

    The paper reporting red-gray chips its authors call unreacted thermitic material.

  2. Videnskab.dk, 2009: editor-in-chief resigns over controversial 9/11 article ↗

    Marie-Paule Pileni says the Harrit paper was published without her knowledge and resigns. In Danish.

  3. NIST: Questions and answers about the NIST WTC towers investigation ↗

    NIST’s replies on free fall, molten metal, thermite (“many thousands of pounds”) and explosives.

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