Spider silk

Most spiders can produce a natural fibre which they use for different purposes. This fibre is called spider silk. Depending on the type of spider, spider silk is uses for purposes of catching prey (either by weaving a net, or by throwing a sticky thread at prey), to get away from predators, and to protect the eggs and the young in a cocoon. Spider silk is very resistant, and has a high tensile strength, it does not tear easily.

Unlike the silk from silkworms, spider silk cannot be produced in large quantities.

Spider Silk Media

A female specimen of Argiope bruennichi wraps her prey in silk.
Indian Summer by Józef Chełmoński (1875, National Museum in Warsaw) depicts a peasant woman with a thread of gossamer in her hand.
Spider silk cocoon
Structure of spider silk. Inside a typical fibre there are crystalline regions separated by amorphous linkages. The crystals are beta-sheets that have assembled together.
An illustration of the differences between toughness, stiffness and strength
A garden spider spinning its web
Schematic of a generalised gland of a Golden silk orb-weaver. Each differently coloured section highlights a discrete section of the gland.
Single strand of artificial spider silk produced under laboratory conditions
Proposed framework for producing artificial skin from spider silk to help patients with burns.

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