The wispy strands of a spider’s web may not seem particularly strong at first glance. But this delicate-looking stringy stuff is one of the most impressive materials on the planet.
In tests of tensile strength—how well a material holds up to being stretched without breaking—some spider silks outperform the most common type of steel. When it comes to toughness—the energy a material can absorb as it changes shape before cracking—several spider silks beat out Kevlar. This superstrong fabric is used to make bulletproof vests.
These amazing properties make spider silk the perfect material for building webs to catch prey. Spiders weave their webs with different types of silk for specific purposes. For example, one type is great for absorbing the impact of flying insects hitting the web. Another is sticky to hold bugs so they can’t escape. “These different silks work together with the architecture of the web to create impressive traps,” says Charlotte Hopfe. She’s a materials scientist who studies spider silk at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.
Because spider silk is so lightweight, flexible, and strong, researchers believe it could be useful in making clothing, ropes, and surgical sutures. But scientists haven’t yet found a way to harvest large amounts of silk from spiders. That’s because it’s hard to raise spiders together—they often eat one another! As an alternative, researchers are working on engineering synthetic, or lab-made, versions of this material. Read on to learn more about spiders’ amazing web-slinging skills.