Wasn't nylon originally discovered by research into spiderweb/silk
materials, i.e. investigating the C-N peptide bond? My chemistry
experience is now 40 years outdated, but i seem to remember that tidbit.
Actually they have a brilliant survival strategy. Normally spiders
do not co-operate, but in the case of emergency... Well they have
had 400 million years to adapt to the events in nature... Compare
that to the time span to ours...
Arto
On 07/03/12 20:20, cyndi...@netscape.net wrote:
Anyone from Australia? Scoop up this bounty of spider webs and
make some lute strings for us!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/17273309
-----Original Message-----
From: alexander<voka...@verizon.net>
To: Ron Andrico<praelu...@hotmail.com>
Cc: agno3phile<agno3ph...@yahoo.com>;
tom<t...@heartistrymusic.com>; lute<lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wed, Mar 7, 2012 9:54 am
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Violin strings out of spider's thread
(objective blind test?)
I seriously doubt there is an interest in the mechanics of the
subject on this
ist, which are rather complex. It matters to say that the spider
silk research
s an immensely long and difficult endeavor, without a clear end in
sight. The
ultured silk research, going on for some 600 years, still
regularly surprises
he heck out of itself.
t is generally agreed that, with small variations, all the silks,
be it moths
r spiders, or some fishes and mammals (yes!) consist of pretty
much the same
lements - fibroin, based on the proteins similar to our hair and
fingernails,
ust in somewhat different proportions and mixtures, and a glue
holding
ilaments together, in case of moths and spiders - sericin.
he sometimes enormous strength of spider silk results not from its'
omposition, but rather from the spacial arrangement of the
filaments, supported
y the smart bends and nicks with a judicial dab of glue here and
there, both on
micro and macro level. and this is where the enormous amount of
research goes
n. TO make a useful musical strings, this spacial arrangement
needs to be
vercome and some new one created, which cancels all the wonderful
inventiveness
he spider just put into the process... The glue bits are melted in
the process,
nd the fancy curly hair go straight, as the perm in the shower.
Sure it gives
he one who makes such a string a painless pastime, and lots of it,
and then
espect for being persistent, and girls and free drinks that
follow. But as far
s the string goes, - nothing fancy here, exactly because of the
necessary
traightening of the tiny filaments to arrange them laterally into
the string.
his destroys the fancy spider's footwork.
uriously enough, the gut strings, on the other hand, completely
preserve the
atices of arrangement among the filaments, as they are too strong
and too fancy
o be destroyed by the processing and stretching. You see, the gut
is never
aken apart into tiny filaments, as silk is. This gives gut strings
all the
ualities we all love and enjoy.
O see the following links, remove spaces in http.
t t p://web.mit.edu/course/3/3.064/www/slides/Ko_spider_silk.pdf
t t p://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/01/spider-silk-va
t t p://theheritagetrust.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/rare-spider-
silk-textile-on-display-at-the-victoria-albert-museum/
lexander r.
n Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:23:12 +0000
on Andrico<praelu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
I feel inclined to point out that we have one of the foremost
authorities on silk strings contributing to this list, Alex
Rakov.
While spider silk may vary slightly from typical silkworm
stuff, I'm
sure they behave in a similar fashion. Alex?
RA
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