Spider Silk Dragline — Supercontraction at 6:1 Macro
359.00 د.إ
Spider silk dragline photographed at 6:1 macro during water exposure — the silk thread in the supercontraction state where the protein chains reorganise in the presence of water, the thread shortening to 50% of its original length while increasing in diameter.
Description
Spider silk supercontraction is a unique material property of dragline silk — when exposed to water, the silk contracts to approximately 50% of its dry length while increasing in cross-sectional diameter, a consequence of the proline-rich protein domains reorganising from their dry crystalline state to a random coil configuration in the presence of water. This property has been proposed as a mechanism for maintaining web pre-tension during rain events. At 6:1 macro reproduction, a dragline thread is photographed during the supercontraction process: a dry thread segment on the left of the frame transitions to a wet thread segment on the right where a water droplet is in contact. The visible difference in thread diameter between the dry (thin) and wet (thicker) regions communicates the supercontraction phenomenon directly. The thread surface texture also changes between the two states — the dry thread appears fibrous and uniform while the wet thread shows the buckled surface texture of the supercontracted state.
