How strong is a spider web?

[bb07]

Answer: much stronger than I ever would have thought!
Here is a very thick web, looking more like a string

And here is a twig

The web supports the weight of the twig without breaking

I have no idea what spider spun this web, but I would assume it's rather large.

 

[santaman2000]

It is after all a form of silk. And silk was once used to make parachutes.

 

[Emdiesse]

Ever seen 8 legged freaks, or arachnophobia?

What you've got yourself there is a giant jumping spider the size of a Moose.... Run

 

[chimpy leon]

Strong stuff isn't it. Got a web across the face the other day while out walking the dogs. Must have walked on about 6 feet before I finally felt it snap.

 

[camp.craft.colin]

i was once told that if you had a spiders web big enough and the strands were as thick as a pencil it would stop a boeing 747 in full flight

 

[Earthgirl]

Thanks for posting this

I often wonder this myself seeing as we have a garden full of these beautiful things at the moment... lol...

Fascinating to watch them weave it though

I quite often drop a dead fly in their webs and watch them 'attack'

 

[Rich.H]

i was once told that if you had a spiders web big enough and the strands were as thick as a pencil it would stop a boeing 747 in full flight

Sounds about right, size for size the stuff is multiple times stronger than steel. There are already some spiders that make webs strong enough to catch small bats & birds mid flight, so wouldn't need that much of an upscale.

 

[Harvestman]

Let's put it this way: mixing spider silk with Kevlar gives you a bulletproof vest at half the weight of a full Kevlar one, for the same effectiveness.

Tribespeople all over the world use spider webs rolled into a sting and then make nets out of them to catch fish.

The story above about stopping a plane is accurate. We aren't even close to making a thread of the same diameter that has the breaking strain of spider silk.