Spider-Man's Web Shooters Explained Through Materials Science

Let’s take a quick look at Spider-Man’s web shooters through the lens of materials science and engineering!

🕸️ Peter Parker created a web fluid that consists of multi-polymer compounds to emulate spider silk

🕸️ The web fluid exists in a semi-solid state before passing through a spinneret which shoots it out from a nozzle in web strands

🕸️ Once exposed to air, the web begins to harden or dissolve and can handle up to 1000 °F temperatures

🕸️ In other versions of Spider-Man, Peter can organically shoot spider silk from his wrists

🕸️ Spider silk can be 5 times stronger than steel (tensile strength of 1.3 GPa) and tougher than Kevlar

🕸️ Possible future applications of synthetic spider silk include artificial tendons, implants, airbags, and body armor!

Scientists have faced many challenges in attempting to design a synthetic spider silk at a large scale, but if it can be done, the potential applications are limitless!

Feel free to share this with any Spider-Man fanatics you know, and check out this article for more Spider-Man facts!