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Spider silk

Webs measure up

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 185–187 (2013)Cite this article

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The complete elastic response of a spider's orb web has been quantified by non-invasive light scattering, revealing important insights into the architecture, natural material use and mechanical properties of the web. This knowledge advances our understanding of the prey-catching process and the role of supercontraction therein.

Although the geometry of different types of web has been measured using optical methods1,2,3,4,5,6, most material property assessments are limited to individual silk fibres, and rarely consider the properties of silk materials in their natural arrangement. This in situ measurement is important, however, because a spider web consists of at least five different types of silk8 with different functions, including radial and spiral threads, the junctions between individual threads in a web, and the web's anchorage to the environment9. The lack of a complete assessment of the mechanical properties is, in part, a consequence of the fibres' small diameter, and because conventional tests are typically limited to tensile force applied in the fibre direction.

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Figure 1: A schematic diagram of a Nephila clavipes spider web model and its experimental investigation using Brillouin light scattering.
Figure 2: The deformation of a spider web under gravity loading as a result of water droplets in morning dew.

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  1. Zhao Qin and Markus J. Buehler are in the Laboratory of Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

    Zhao Qin & Markus J. Buehler

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  1. Zhao Qin
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  2. Markus J. Buehler
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Correspondence to Markus J. Buehler.

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Qin, Z., Buehler, M. Webs measure up. Nature Mater 12, 185–187 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3578

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