# Spiderwebs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderwebs/208652>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 21, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderwebs/208652 "2003-10-21T06:14:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderwebs/208652/1 "2003-10-21T06:14:29Z")

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Why haven’t we figured out how spiders make the web-stuff? Isn’t our analytical chemistry advanced enough to detect the ingredients it takes to make spiderwebs?

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**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderwebs/208652/2 "2003-10-22T02:21:52Z")

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Spiderwebs are basically made of alanine and glycine. And while we could make it in the lab it would take quite a long time since it’s pretty long chains (up to 300 amino acids according to the link below) - it takes weeks or months to receive a 20 amino acid peptide that I’ll order from a company. Here’s some more info:

> **[What is a spider's silk made of?](https://animals.howstuffworks.com/arachnids/question87.htm)**
>
> Spider silk is five times stronger than steel and twice as strong as bullet-proof Kevlar. What exactly is spider silk, what is it made of and why is it so strong? Find out the answers to these questions and learn other facts about spider silk.

[http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/spider/page3h.htm](http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/spider/page3h.htm)

> **[HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works!](https://www.howstuffworks.com?parent=question87.htm&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nap.edu%2Freadingroom%2Fbooks%2Fbmm%2F)**
>
> HowStuffWorks explains thousands of topics, ranging from the flu to black holes to conspiracy theories, with video and illustrations so you can learn how everything works.

and from [here](http://www.smm.org/general_info/bhop/Spiderwebs.html):

> [@](#):
>
> The proteins for silk production in the spider contain regions in which a sequence of 5 amino acids is repeated as many as 63 times. These protein segments with repeating blocks form long, spring-like shapes. At the end of each 5-amino-acid blocks, the protein kinks back on itself in a 180-degree turn to form a spiral that looks like a tiny spring. Apparently this gives the elasticity of silk in a spider web. More information appears in Science News (153[8]: 119, 1998).

So yes we know the structure, but no we don’t currently have the capability to mass produce it without using the ultimate chemist - a spider.

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**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderwebs/208652/3 "2003-10-22T05:02:37Z")

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I guess the key was to use spider silk instead of spider web for Google.

Thanks for the info, very interesting.

* * *

[http://www.lyricstime.com/lyrics/11048.html](http://www.lyricstime.com/lyrics/11048.html)

Look, he’s crawling up my wall  
Black and hairy, very small  
Now he’s up above my head  
Hanging by a little thread

Creepy, crawly  
Creepy, crawly  
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly  
Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly

– Boris the Spider, The Who

🙂

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**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderwebs/208652/4 "2003-10-22T07:55:25Z")

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I could have sworn they were genetically engineering goats to produce [spider](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/CuttingEdge/cuttingedge020118.html) [silk](http://www.howstuffworks.com/news-item38.htm) in their [lactic](http://www.forbes.com/global/2001/0219/061.html) [secretions](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/889951.stm).

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**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spiderwebs/208652/5 "2003-10-22T14:41:19Z")

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Cool stuff **Zenster**. I hope I don’t come home some day to find a goat hanging from my ceiling. 🙂

Bahhhh … Eeeeeek!!!