Some scientists are giving a new meaning to ‘the web’ with nanotechnology. Researchers at University of Trento have discovered that covering spiders with carbon nanoparticles can allow them to produce silk up to 3.5 times stronger than usual. This weird science has even weirder potential applications. (via University of Trento)
In the spirit of weird science, a team of Italian researchers from the University of Trento have employed a series of strange experiments getting even stranger results. This particular research team has delved into the science of testing the strength of natural materials before, and they are currently trying to cook up how to enhance the strength of natural materials with the strongest inorganic materials.
Currently, a sheet of grapheme one atom thick is the strongest artificial material that scientists have been happy to integrate into new experiments. In this case, researchers at University of Trento thought, why not combine the strongest artificial material with the strongest organic material? Yep, it sounds like an idea you would cook up when you’re a toddler, but luckily these scientists had a lot more resources at their disposal than just Lego blocks and sippy cups.
They had graphene nanoparticles and a population of Orb spiders, from the Pholcidae family, on hand. Orb spiders are currently known to produce one of the strongest naturally occurring materials on Earth: silk spun webs. They conducted a series of experiments with different test groups of these spiders.
Their first test group consisted of 15 orb spiders that they sprayed with a mixture of water and graphene nanoparticles 200 to 300 nanometers wide. They found that some of these spiders produced silk strands that were stronger than usual.
However, 4 of these spiders died immediately upon being sprayed with the graphene and water mixture.
Their second test group consisted of 10 orb spiders that were doused with a graphene and water solution. The third test group consisted of 5 spiders that were doused with a mixture of carbon nanotubes and water. The results actually showed that some spiders created less strong silk as a result of the treatment; however some of the spiders created silk that was 3.5 times stronger than their usual silk strength. In fact, spiders covered in a mixture of carbon nanotubes created the strongest silk.
What is weirder than these experiments and results is the fact that the researchers don’t know exactly how this happened. At first, they suspected that the silk was coated with carbon that caused the increase in strength. However, this hypothesis is not supported mathematically because simply dousing the silk strands in carbon would not sufficiently increase the strength to support their test results. Instead, team leader, Nicola Pugno, thinks that the spiders may harvest the nanoparticles covered on them and integrate them into the silk strands themselves to increase the strength.
The team intends to continue to investigate these phenomena in the hopes of creating a future silk production of hybrid natural and synthetic materials. Their next intended research will conduct a similar study on silkworms. One of the applicable uses for this potential super silk material is acting as a net to catch falling airplanes (seems lofty), according to Pugno. With ideas like these, these experiments could lead anywhere. I can certainly see DARPA coming up with some insane uses for this... in a way that only DARPA can.
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