Spider silk is stronger than Steel !!!!

A great many insects—moths and butterflies, for example—produce silk, although there are considerable

differences between these substances and spider silk.

According to scientists, spider thread is one of the strongest materials known. If we set down all of a spider web’s characteristics, the resulting list will be a very long one. Yet even just a few examples of the properties of spider silk are enough to make the point:32

The silk thread spun by spiders, measuring just one-thousandth of a millimeter across, is five times

ger than steel of the same thickness.
It can stretch up to four times its own length.
It is also so light that enough thread to stretch clear around the planet would weigh only 320 grams.

These individual characteristics may be found in various other materials, but it is a most exceptional situation for them all to come together at once. It’s not easy to find a material that’s both strong and elastic. Strong steel cable, for instance, is not as elastic as rubber and can deform over time. And while rubber cables don’t easily deform, they aren’t strong enough to bear heavy loads.

How can the thread spun by such a tiny creature have properties vastly superior to rubber and steel,

product of centuries of accumulated human knowledge? 

 

 

Spider silk’s superiority is hidden in its chemical structure. Its raw material is a protein called keratin, which consists of helical chains of amino acids cross-linked to one another. Keratin is the building block for such widely different natural substances as hair, nails, feathers and skin. In all the substances it comprises, its protective property is especially important. Furthermore, that keratin consists of amino acids bound by loose hydrogen links makes it very elastic, as described in the American magazine Science News: “On the human

scale, a web resembling a fishing net could catch a passenger plane.”33

On the underside of the tip of the spider's abdomen are three pairs of spinnerets. Each of these spinnerets 

 

is studded with many hairlike tubes called spigots. The spigots lead to silk glands inside the abdomen, each of which produces a different type of silk. As a result of the harmony between them, a variety of silk threads are produced. Inside the spider’s body, pumps, valves and pressure systems with exceptionally developed properties are employed during the production of the raw silk, which is then drawn out through the spigots.34

Most importantly, the spider can alter the pressure in the spigots at will, which also changes the structure of molecules making up the liquid keratin. The valves’ control mechanism, the diameter, resistance and elasticity of the thread can all be altered, thus making the thread assume desired characteristics without altering its chemical structure. If deeper changes in the silk are desired, then another gland must be brought into operation. And finally, thanks to the perfect use of its back legs, the spider can put the thread on the desired track.

Once the spider’s chemical miracle can be replicated fully, then a great many useful materials can be produced: safety belts with the requisite elasticity, very strong surgical sutures that leave no scars, and bulletproof fabrics. Moreover, no harmful or poisonous substances need to be used in their production.

Spiders’ silk possesses the most extraordinary properties. On account of its high resistance to tension, ten

times more energy is required to break spider silk than other, similar biological materials.35

As a result, much more energy needs to be expended in order to break a piece of spider silk of the same size as a nylon thread. One main reason why spiders are able to produce such strong silk is that they manage to add assisting compounds with a regular structure by controlling the crystallization and folding of the basic protein compounds. Since the weaving material consists of liquid crystal, spiders expend a minimum of energy while doing this.

The thread produced by spiders is much stronger than the known natural or synthetic fibers. But the thread they produce cannot be collected and used directly, as can the silks of many other insects. For that reason, the only current alternative is artificial production.

Researchers are engaged in wide-ranging studies on how spiders produce their silk. Dr. Fritz Vollrath, a zoologist at the university of Aarhus in Denmark, studied the garden spider Araneus diadematus and succeeded in uncovering a large part of the process. He found that spiders harden their silk by acidifying it. In particular, he examined the duct through which the silk passes before exiting the spider's body. Before entering the duct, the silk consists of liquid proteins. In the duct, specialized cells apparently draw water away from the silk proteins. Hydrogen atoms taken from the water are pumped into another part of the duct, creating an acid bath. As the silk proteins make contact with the acid, they fold and form bridges with one another, hardening the silk, which is "stronger and more elastic than Kevlar [. . .] the strongest man-made fiber," as Vollrath puts it.36

Kevlar, a reinforcing material used in bulletproof vests and tires, and made through advanced technology, is the strongest manmade synthetic. Yet spider thread possesses properties that are far superior to Kevlar. As well as its being very strong, spider silk can also be re-processed and re-used by the spider who spun it.

If scientists manage to replicate the internal processes taking place inside the spider—if protein folding can be made flawless and the weaving material's genetic information added, then it will be possible to industrially produce silk-based threads with a great many special properties. It is therefore thought that if the spider thread weaving process can be understood, the level of success in the manufacture of man-made materials will be improved.

 

sources from: harun yahya