Why Spider Silk is Stronger Than Steel

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Published 2022-01-15
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Credits:
Narrator/Writer: Stephanie Sammann
Writer: Ashleen Knutsen
Editor: Dylan Hennessy (www.behance.net/dylanhennessy1)
Illustrator/Animator: Kirtan Patel (kpatart.com/illustrations)
Animator: Mike Ridolfi (www.moboxgraphics.com/)
Sound: Graham Haerther (haerther.net/)
Thumbnail: Max Moser
Producer: Brian McManus (youtube.com/c/realengineering)

Imagery courtesy of Getty Images

References:
[1] www.vam.ac.uk/articles/golden-spider-silk
[2] daily.jstor.org/the-tangled-history-of-weaving-wit…
[3] www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/epoly-2020-…
[4] royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2…
[5] www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200211092550…
[6] www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081…
[7] www.researchgate.net/publication/326668967_Spider_…
[8] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2658765/
[9] www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/spider/page3.htm
[10] www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6115
[11] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5861357/
[12] www.geneseo.edu/nuclear/density-spider-silk
[13] hypertextbook.com/facts/2004/KarenSutherland.shtml
[14] commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Kevlar_S…
[15] www.colorado.edu/lab/vernerey/sites/default/files/…
[16] pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11385464/
[17] digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article…
[18] pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.biomac.9b00193?ca…
[19] pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.biomac.8b00980
[20] www.nature.com/articles/natrevmats20173

All Comments (21)
  • @gemini1005
    😂😂 love the random spiderman at 9:35 but also love the in depth detail as I've always wondered what exactly it meant "spider silk is stronger than stee
  • @CruzMonrreal
    9:36 The casual Spiderman completely caught me off guard 😅 Nice video
  • @gsmith7309
    I love the Spider-Man walkthrough absolutely brilliant
  • @RealEngineering
    One of my favourite RS videos to date. Material science crossed with biology? Kinda wish I went into spider silk research
  • in a rural area, i saw a stick that was hanging from a thread, it wasnt there the day before and it just looked weird, like one of those suckers that are on the roof in half life, i grabbed the stick and threw it away and after that i looked up to see what it was connected to, turns out it was a counter weight for a web that was between 2 trees, without it, the web started moving due to the wind and was ultimately destroyed, dunno what happened to the spider and i kinda felt bad for destroying something so ingenious
  • Spiders are such beautiful and magnificent creatures. I wish more people could appreciate them and all their wonder.
  • @skylaninaction
    I learned alot from this. I had no idea there was multiple types of spider silk for different parts of their web. Another great video
  • @huldu
    What I find fascinating about many spiders is that they can create a very beautiful and perfect looking web while being nearly blind or completely blind.
  • @itchykami
    I wonder what guitar strings from spider silk would sound like. I suspect finger oils are far more destructive to it though, so wouldn't expect them to last nearly as long.
  • @mxcollin95
    Another amazing episode. All of your videos that I’ve seen so far have been amazingly interesting and well done; and, I just want to say thank you for putting out the effort to create all the super interesting and enlightening content! 👍
  • Makes me wonder how Peter Parker was able to concoct his complex chemical compounded spider fluid.
  • Spiderman just casually walking in the background of the lab shot is fucking amazing 😂
  • @alf8718
    There is one more properties of Spider silk You "forget" to mention - it changes it's mechanical porperties very much when heated and also it burns (no fire resistance)
  • My university actually had some spider silk producing goats! A few years ago, they brought them on campus and I was able to see them. It was really fun.
  • @shadowwriter329
    I remember watching a video where Myth Busters Adam Savage did a test with some kids and proved the concept. They did two test with gallons of water dripping into buckets held up by either a cord of steel and a cord of spider silk. They used enough spider silk (over 300 strains I don’t recall) but they were both the same amount of mass/weight. Both did the test and the silk held more water before it snapped then the steel cord.
  • @DigitalJedi
    The fact that it is made from a liquid makes me hope we can print or even 3d print with it. I have no idea how well it would adhere to the other layers in a 3d print, but even just making 2d patters of the material to reinforce other thin materials would be awesome.
  • @lukash.8788
    Im currently learning about cell free protein synthesis which is a relatively new technique and this would be the perfect application for it! Since the synthesis happens outside of a host cell there’s not limitation to the size of the protein.
  • It never ceases to amaze me, the unique ability of humans to pick the best traits from nature, and construct them from scratch.