P6_7 Spider Silk

Spiders silk is often referred to as one of the most amazing materials in nature, with its exceptional strength, able to ensnare insects much greater in size and mass than that of the spider that spun the web. In this paper we explore the idea of using a single piece of spider silk to bring a moving car to a halt. We calculated that a Ford Focus moving at 50 mph could be stopped by a single 10 m long thread with a minimum diameter of 1.88 cm.