One of my favourite conundrums…
Any Ideas?
posted by surfercam @ 12:36 pm
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Making the average day more interesting... That's me below in the green, snogging the Pig. We've all snogged a few pigs in our lives.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
surfercam
Making the average day more interesting... That's me below in the green, snogging the Pig. We've all snogged a few pigs in our lives.
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9 Comments:
Because not all parts of a spider's web are sticky, and the spider knows where to step. Picture an orb web, like the big round ones you see in your garden. You know how they spiral toward the middle, with spokes radiating out to the edge? The spiral is sticky, but the spokes aren't.
Spider silk is a polymer. A polymer is a large molecule made out of a string of identical parts, like a chain is made out of lots of similar links. In spider silk, the links are made of protein and sugar.
Spider silk is squeezed out from spigot-like parts on the back end of a spider called spinnerets. Usually one pair of spinnerets makes a given kind of silk. Most spiders have six spinnerets, though some have only four.
When spiders are squeezing out the sticky silk, the sticky part comes out as a coating on regular silk. When a strand is done, the spider twangs it with a leg, which causes the sticky stuff to arrange itself in little globs all along the strand rather than as a coating.
Why? We're not sure. Maybe the globs have more holding power.
Spider silk comes in several varieties, depending on what it's going to be used for. Besides webs, spiders use it to make drag lines, which they use as safety lines. They use silk to surround their egg sacks and sometimes to wrap up bugs they catch. Some use it to make small parachutes, which they use to drift from place to place on the wind.
Professor Austad told me some other neat things.
Unless they're starving, all spiders make a drag line all the time. You know those cobwebs you find in corners? They're usually old drag lines that stick together where there's been heavy spider traffic.
Some spiders live in their orb webs a long time, while other spiders remake their orb webs every day. Because the spider silk in the web is made of protein and costs a lot of energy to make, these spiders usually eat their old webs before making a new one.
Ummmm... Thanks Caz.
I was hoping others would come up with some creative ideas....
Cazzie, Wow! Everything I needed to now about spider webs - AND MORE!
magic :)
Mike - Caz is good isn't she!
DJen - yep magic alright
holy silk stockings cazzie.
thats deep
I thought it was cause.... actually after reading that i have no idea
Because the grass is always greener under the other web.hee-hee
I guess it isn't a conundrum anymore.
Max - I hear ya.
River - Welcome!
Ex - yeah that's right.
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