What makes spider silk stretchy?
Its stronger than steel and nylon, and more extensible than Kevlar. So what is this super-tough material? Spider silk; and learning how to spin it is one of the materials industries Holy Grails. John Gosline has been fascinated by spider silks and their remarkable toughness for most of his scientific career. He explains that if were to learn how to manufacture spider silk, we have to understand the relationship between the components and the spun fibres mechanical properties; which is why he is focusing on major ampullate silk, one of the many silks that spiders spin. According to Gosline, spiders use major ampullate silk for draglines and to build the frame and radial structures in webs, all of which have to deform and absorb enormous amounts of energy without fracturing. Comparing the amino acid sequences of major ampullate silk proteins from Araneus diadematus and Nephila clavipes, Gosline realised that the sequences differed on one count; Araneus silk is relatively rich in the amin
