Tanha Rani

October 4th, 2021

Writing for Engineering Lap Report 

Is Spider Silk Stronger than Steel?

Abstract:

 Previous tests done by scientists deemed that spider silk is stronger than steel when they are the same mass. You might have heard about this phenomenon but have you ever wondered about the accuracy of such a claim? MythBusters also predicted that if spider silk and steel are put to the test to see how many quarts of water can be carried by 25,000 strands of spider silk and a 28-gauge steel wire up to their breaking point, spider silk will be able to withstand more quarts of water. By using a rig with a controlled amount of water filling a bucket latched on to first, the spider silk, and then, the steel wire, upon the bucket of water filling to 12.5 pounds when the steel wire snaps and 26 pounds for the spider silk to snap, spider silk was proven to be stronger than steel. 26 pounds of water is more than double the amount of weight that a steel gauge can handle, making this result of the experiment very clear. This find is important because it allows us to understand that even if spider silk seems to be weal, when tested how much stress it can withstand, it was proven that spider silk of the same density as steel is stronger than steal because it can handle more stress. 

Introduction & Hypothesis: 

It is almost common knowledge that spider silk is deemed stronger than steel, why not test that theory further? Based on the fact that items of the same mass can withstand different amounts of strength, if the amount of water weight that 25,000 strands of spider silk can hold is compared to that of a 28-gauge wire, it was predicted at the beginning of the experiment that spider silk will be able to withstand more stress than steel. By using a rig, this method was tested by filling a bucket of water and attaching the two items being tested to the buckets, one after the other, until the item breaks and comparing the weight of the water-weight for the results. This method allows us to test the strength of spider silk and steel of the same density to figure out which one is stronger, based on the pounds of water that can be carried by the spider silk and steel wire up until the breaking point.

Materials & Methods: To conduct this experiment we need: 

• one rig
• one pipe 
• two buckets that can hold up to 40 pounds of water (22 quarts)
• one snap-on hook
• one nozzle to release water
• 25,00 strands of spider silk tied together 
• one 28-gauge steel wire
• four pieces of rope
• a weight scale

On the rig, set up the two buckets, one on top of the other, and have a pipe laid out to allow water from the top bucket to go to the bottom bucket in a controlled manner. The bucket with water should be filled and laid on top of a sturdy shelf to prevent it from falling, the bottom bucket should be empty, and ready to be filled with water. Attach the 28-gauge steel wire strength on to a sturdy piece of the rig in between both buckets to a metal hook attached to four pieces of strong rope that are holding the bottom bucket and release the nozzle to allow water to go from the top to the bottom bucket. Wait for the spider silk to snap and the bucket to fall onto the bottom section of the rig to measure its weight on the weight scale. Repeat these steps exactly for the 25,000 strands of spider silk. After doing this with the 25,000 strands of spider silk and 28-gauge wire, compare the weight of water that they could hold, and whichever weight is greater will prove which item is stronger since it can hold more water weight until it snaps.

Results: 

After testing the strength by using the above method, the 28-gauge of steel wire was able to hold the weight of 12.5 pounds of water, and the 25,000 strands of spider silk held 26 pounds of water before snapping completely. 

Discussion: 

Since 26 pounds of water is greater than 12.5 pounds of water, the results are clear that the 25,000 strands of spider silk is stronger than the 28-gauge of steel wire because the spider silk was able to handle more than double the stress when it comes to water weight than the steel wire. These findings proved that the MythBusters original hypothesis was accurate because when comparing spider silk and steel of the same density, the spider silk was more than two times stronger than the steel wire. When conducting experiments there will never be perfect accuracy, and with this methodology although the results are reliable, there are limitations because the weight scale can be somewhat inaccurate, there are chances for the rig machine to malfunction, and because the spider silk needed to be collected from forty-two spiders after five weeks, it shows the wait time to prepare these materials will most likely be higher than other experiments. 

Conclusion:

To summarize, the purpose of this experiment was to determine whether 25,000 strands of spider silk is stronger than a 28-gauge steel wire. It was predicted that if both items are attached to a bucket of water that is being filled from another bucket on a rig-like device, the spider silk will be able to hold more water weight than the steel wire, when the water is measured on a weight scale. The results showed that 25,000 strands of steel were able to hold 26 pounds of water before snapping, and 28-gauge of steel wire held 12.5 pounds of water. Therefore, it was proven that, when spider silk and steel of the same density are tested for their strength, spider silk is stronger than steel. This experiment proves that even though an item can look tough and sturdy, like the steel wire, something that looks as light/weak as spider silk can very much be stronger when their strength is tested, as long as they are the same mass. 

References:

“Is Spider Silk Stronger than Steel?” YouTube, uploaded by Science Channel, 27 April, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMN_wQ6Zyy0