Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: paul.fr on 19/05/2007 09:26:49
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i hear that spider silk is so tough that they are going to make bullet proof vests from the stuff! How is that possible, and how do you knit spiders silk in to a vest?
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Spiders webs are just another form of silk, no different in principle from the silk used by silkworms that we already use. You just untangle the web and reuse the thread (you may want to treat it in some way to remove the stickiness).
Making bullet proof vests is not that hard (ironically, making knife proof vests can be harder). The main thing about making bullet proof vests is to thread the energy of the incoming bullet while making the vest light and flexible enough not to get in the way of the wearer.
One of the first non-metal (i.e. non-rigid) attempts at stopping a projectile was the silk undershirt worn by Mongol worriers. This did not actually stop arrows (it was not rigid enough for that, but rigid armour would have reduced the mobility of the highly mobile cavalry), but would wrap itself around the arrow head, thus making it easier to extract the arrow.
I suspect that the silk from a spiders web may well be able to be weaved into a shirt that will not break under the strain of a bullet, but alone, I doubt it is stiff enough to spread the load of the bullet, so like the silk shirts of the Mongols, would not actually stop the bullet enterring the body, even if it would contain the damage.