Spider net, even harder

2009/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia
• Fisika

Discover that with the addition of small amounts of metals, spider mesh can become even harder

The spider web is silk, harder than steel. Some German physicists have now seen that it can be made harder by adding small amounts of metals.

To do this, researchers have introduced diethylzink ions, trimethylaluminum and titanium metal isopropoxides into the protein structures of silk spider network fibers. Exhaustive ignorance of the mechanism. They believe that metal atoms bind protein molecules together. Normally, hydrogen atoms constitute the bonds between the molecules that form the spider web. In this process these hydrogen bonds may weaken slightly, so metal atoms can enter these areas and form stronger bonds. However, they have seen that this silk is eight times harder than metal-free silk.