Ask A Scientist© Biology Archive

 
name         Lindsey
status       student
age          11

Question -   I need to know the stregth of a spider's thread for a
science project but I can't find it anywhere. 
 ------------------------------------------------
A major problem with this kind of question is that there are many
different spiders and their silk can be quite different from one species to
another. That may be one reason I couldn't find any specific numbers, the
books I checked say "as strong as a steel thread of the same size," or
"twice as strong as a steel thread of the same size," I don't know if that
is going to be much help for a science project. The other thing that makes
spider silk unique is that while it is super strong it can also stretch,
some species as much as double length before breaking.
J. Elliott
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