The Mechanics of Spider-Webs
Researchers are investigating the sensory abilities granted to web-weaving spiders by the extraordinary structures they create from their silk.
Spider webs are one of the most fascinating and beautiful products of nature, as deadly as they are beautiful — serving as a mechanism to ensnare prey for the spider to devour. As it is elastic and possesses an incredible tensile strength, spider silk has long been of interest to material scientists. But, the spider-web holds another desirable characteristic, the sensory ability it provides for the spider.
Web-weaving spiders use vibrations generated in the web as a sensory mechanism to locate their ensnared prey — possible regardless of the level of visual acuity they possess.
"The spider orb-web is a natural, lightweight, elegant structure with an extreme strength-to-weight ratio that is rarely observed among other structures, either natural or manmade,” explains Antonino Morassi. “Its primary functions are catching prey and gathering sensory information, and study of the mechanisms that guide these processes through web vibration has been…
