Mechanical Properties and Factors of Safety of Spider Drag-Lines
Open Access
- 1 May 1985
- journal article
- Published by The Company of Biologists in Journal of Experimental Biology
- Vol. 116 (1) , 141-151
- https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.116.1.141
Abstract
Experiments were carried out to determine the strain energy capacity and breaking strain of spider drag-line silk. These properties are discussed in terms of a mathematical model of a spider falling on a drag-line. It was found that the strain energy capacity of the drag-line was insufficient to absorb the potential energy lost by a falling spider and that in order to avoid failure of the drag-line the spider dissipates energy by other means, particularly by using its inertia to draw drag-line silk from its spinnerets.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- The Physical Properties of Spider’s Silk and Their Role in the Design of Orb-WebsJournal of Experimental Biology, 1976
- Conservation of web proteins in the spider, Araneus diadematusJournal of Experimental Zoology, 1971
- The Fate of the Intact Orb Web of the Spider Araneus Diadematus Cl. 1)Behaviour, 1964