A spider web provides its occupant with a home and a way to catch prey. It needs to stand up to pesky attackers and sometimes withstand hurricane-force winds. Using computer models of spider silk and experiments on the webs of common European garden spiders (Araneus diadematus), Buehler and his team found a web’s unique skills come from its ability to react differently to different stress levels.
A light wind, for instance, softens the web, allowing it to lengthen but retain its overall structure. If a larger force is applied at a specific location, such as when a particular thread is poked, the silk becomes rigid and breaks.
Furthermore, only the most extended silk threads get severed. Having small portions of the web come apart not only helps retain the overall structural integrity but actually makes the web stronger. The researchers found that removing up to a tenth of the threads at different locations allowed the structure to carry 3 to 10 percent more weight. This shows the web’s advantage over materials such as steel, which would simply break apart under such conditions.
Engineers could also apply the secrets of spider silk to other challenges, Buehler suggested. Its ability to sustain small damage without compromising the entire structure could be useful in designing virtual networks, such as the Internet, where a local node gets sacrificed during an attack to keep the whole system from going down. Understanding how its microscopic protein structure gives rise to its macroscopic properties might help in stringing together carbon nanotubes, which may one day be used to produce objects ranging from combat gear to space elevators.
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A light wind, for instance, softens the web, allowing it to lengthen but retain its overall structure. If a larger force is applied at a specific location, such as when a particular thread is poked, the silk becomes rigid and breaks.
Furthermore, only the most extended silk threads get severed. Having small portions of the web come apart not only helps retain the overall structural integrity but actually makes the web stronger. The researchers found that removing up to a tenth of the threads at different locations allowed the structure to carry 3 to 10 percent more weight. This shows the web’s advantage over materials such as steel, which would simply break apart under such conditions.
Engineers could also apply the secrets of spider silk to other challenges, Buehler suggested. Its ability to sustain small damage without compromising the entire structure could be useful in designing virtual networks, such as the Internet, where a local node gets sacrificed during an attack to keep the whole system from going down. Understanding how its microscopic protein structure gives rise to its macroscopic properties might help in stringing together carbon nanotubes, which may one day be used to produce objects ranging from combat gear to space elevators.
- More Here
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