u/RobJ7

After the 25th anniversary I started thinking about the awful randomness of that day and how each of the towers was oriented. Many might not know, but the towers' cores were not oriented the same which played a role in how many died. The north tower's core was oriented length facing north-south, and the south towers core was oriented length facing east-west. The importance of this is that the north tower, which was hit head-on from the north, had maximum core damage due to its core's orientation, sealing the fate of all those from floors 92 and above. All elevators and stairs were destroyed. The south tower on the other hand, was hit at an angle from the south, and its core width not facing the direction of impact, allowed one stairwell to potentially remain intact to the upper floors. Of course, this became a rather mute point because the south tower did not stand for very long due to the angled collision of the plane damaging the northeast external column critically. If you look at some pics out there, with the towers backlit, you can clearly see what I'm talking about in reference to the cores layout in the towers. This is very relevant to understanding how so many died in especially the north tower.