Skip to main content
Amazing Spider Web Strength
It is easy to think of a spider web as a group of sticky threads in a pattern. It is more than that, however. There are different strands for different purposes, and they even have unique functions. Break a strand? Not a problem for the arachnid in charge.
Imagine a cloth that gets stronger after it is damaged. That is what
scientists recently discovered when probing the strength of garden
spider webs.
A research team tested the resistance of a spider web's supporting
radial threads and compared that with the thinner spiral threads. They
found that placing a certain amount of pressure on just one thread
caused it to suddenly stiffen and distribute the stress to the rest of
the web.
Of course, too much damage eventually weakened the web, but the initial
damage had the opposite effect. After investigators applied even more
pressure, the additional stress was not transferred to the whole web,
but to tiny protein crystals acting as stress points on the targeted
strand. Whether the scientists pushed on a spiral or radial thread, only
that strand broke, leaving the whole web intact.
You can spin your way over and finish reading "Scientists Decode Key to Spider Web Strength".
