Spider dragline silk was tested in a wet environment to show that moisture induces supercontraction in the threads for levels higher than 70 — 75 % of relative humidity, proving that when a thread is exposed to moisture, stresses quickly build up and tighten the thread [20].
Stretched enough, the protein molecules snap into different arrangements, becoming stronger and tougher, and more akin to
spider dragline silks and high performance synthetics like Kevlar, Fudge said.
Not exact matches
For example, what math was used to calculate the capability of
dragline silk from an orb weaver
spider that is lighter than cotton, yet ounce for ounce stronger than steel, tougher than kevlar (used in bullet - proof vests), that if the silk were 0.4 inch thick with strands 1.6 inches apart and enlarged the size of a football field, could stop a jumbo jet in flight, that is flying at an average speed of about 600 mph?
The lab is working with silk that the
spider uses for
draglines (dropping off into space) and the long segments of its web.
Researchers had already identified two genes for the class of silk known as major ampullate, which forms the superstrong
dragline threads that anchor webs and are the inspiration for a major effort to make
spider silk commercially (see p. 293).
Webless wandering species such as the hunting
spider (Pisaura mirabilis) often depend on so - called
draglines which hang, for example, from branches.
Spider silk proteins and methods for producing spider silk proteins Dragline silk is the toughest kind of spider
Spider silk proteins and methods for producing
spider silk proteins Dragline silk is the toughest kind of spider
spider silk proteins
Dragline silk is the toughest kind of
spiderspider silk.
To begin a web, a
spider anchors a strand of
dragline silk — three times stronger than the Kevlar in bulletproof vests — and waits for a breeze to blow it to a second attachment point.
By varying the conditions under which the
spiders were kept (different reeling speeds, starvation periods), the species or the
spiders inside the same species, it has been seen that
dragline silk has different mechanical properties and varies on an interspecific, intraspecific and intra-individual level [23].