5/24/23, 3:55 PM DIV Contents
Completion Type Questions Exercise - 2
Deadly Spider Sews Industrial-Strength Silk Strands
Most of us try to avoid brown recluse spiders, given their potent venom, but a team of scientists recently
dared to study the arachnids up close and were amazed by what they saw: spiders in deep concentration
crafting an industrial strength material for their webs with a sewing-like motion. If the spider's unique silk
and technique are applied to synthetic materials, the researchers believe that the results could benefit space
travel, lead to better parachutes, allow for more impressive Hollywood movie stunts and more. The findings
are published in the journal Materials Horizons.
The spider uses its silk-producing organs, called spinnerets, to sew the strands. The large spinnerets form a
loop of silk thread before the smaller spinnerets close the loop with a speedy clamp-and-release action. "The
motion is similar to how one might roll up an extension cord: by drawing out a length of cord, clamping it
into a loop and bundling the looped portion with the prior loops," said Hannes Schniepp, an associate
professor in the department of applied science at William & Mary College and the study's lead author. The
resulting material, as seen by Schniepp and his colleagues under high magnification, consists of multiple
micro-loops that boost silk's strength. Sean Koebley, a graduate student who co-authored the study, said that
even a single loop "significantly enhances the toughness" of the material.
The brown recluse's silk is the only known spider silk to be thin and flat instead of round. Schniepp likened
the sticky silk to a piece of Scotch tape, but 2000 times thinner. "Its thinness makes it very floppy, very
sticky and a lot of other really unique things in the materials world," he added. "It is the thinness that makes
the self-adhesive loops possible in the first place."
The spider's distinctive silk and web-crafting technique evolved to catch prey. The brown recluse is a
ground-dwelling spider, which makes the requirements for its web very different from those of a spider that
catches flying insects. The reclusive spider's web, with its tiny threaded loops, functions as a death trap. Its
stickiness is like fly paper, but the loops make the web more flexible and prevent it from collapsing onto
itself. "Have you ever tried to wrap a Christmas present with an extremely long piece of Scotch tape?"
Schniepp asked. "When I do that, I end up in a huge mess that can never be sorted out again; the tape ends up
being all crumpled up and in wrinkles. Through the loops, the recluse spider is able to avoid all of these
problems."
Other research teams in the past have attempted to strengthen synthetic filaments with tiny loops built into
the material, but they failed because the fibers would easily break. Observation of the recluse spider offers a
breakthrough solution, which is to use thin and flat nano-scale ribbon-shaped fibers to create the many loops.
The scientists have not yet created a man-made version of the material, but efforts are underway. They have
developed mathematical models to describe the web's structure and properties in detail and have already
submitted a patent application to produce a spider-inspired synthetic product. They imagine the material
could be used in space travel. "By weight, spider silk is already five times stronger than steel," Schniepp
explained. "Adding the loops makes it even better. In space, there are micrometeorites or space junk that can
do enormous damage. We envision protective webs around space structures and vehicles to protect from this
kind of incident." Another application, he said, could be in the production of lightweight bungee cords that
could absorb enormous amounts of energy, "say, if James Bond needs to jump down from a very high
building or bridge." Yet another use could be in manufacturing more effective cords to hold up parachutes
since they need to absorb a lot of energy when the parachute opens. These are some of the more remarkable
possibilities, but much more exist.
The loopy material could potentially improve upon any existing man-made fabric where strength, weight,
flexibility, and lightness are needed. "It's great to get this kind of inspiration from nature to develop the next
generation of high-performance material," Schniepp said. "Spiders do this in such an incredibly benign way;
all they need is to eat a cricket every now and then, and they can produce this amazing material."
Questions 1– 5
Select the correct choices from the options 1-8.
about:blank 1/4
5/24/23, 3:55 PM DIV Contents
Any grammatical errors or errors in spelling will be marked wrong
1
Brown recluse spiders are usually avoided by humans because of their _______.
multiple micro-loops
round
threaded loops
potent venom
rolling up an extension cord
sewing-like motion
thinness
industrial strength material
2
A team of daring scientists who studied the brown spiders was amazed to see it
making a web using a _______.
thinness
industrial strength material
multiple micro-loops
round
threaded loops
potent venom
rolling up an extension cord
sewing-like motion
3
Scientist Hannes Schniepp drew parallels of the spider’s clamp-and-release action of
its spinnerets to_____________.
thinness
industrial strength material
multiple micro-loops
round
threaded loops
potent venom
rolling up an extension cord
sewing-like motion
4
The brown spider’s web is very floppy and very sticky because of its
_______________.
thinness
industrial strength material
multiple micro-loops
round
about:blank 2/4
5/24/23, 3:55 PM DIV Contents
threaded loops
potent venom
rolling up an extension cord
sewing-like motion
5
The brown recluse's silk is the only known spider silk to be thin and flat instead of
________________.
thinness
industrial strength material
multiple micro-loops
round
threaded loops
potent venom
rolling up an extension cord
sewing-like motion
Questions 6 – 10
Choose NOT MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in the blank given below.
The brown recluse spider uses a clamp-and-release action to make multiple micro-loops that boost the (6)
____________ .
The brown recluse is a ground-dwelling spider and thus it needs a different web-crafting technique to
(7)______________.
Efforts to create a spider-inspired synthetic product are being made by scientists, who have developed (8)
_____________ describing the web’s structure and properties.
Scientists foresee the usage of the product in space structures & vehicles that can shield it from micro-
meteorites or (9) _____________.
The new synthetic material could potentially improve upon any existing (10)____________ .
The brown recluse spider uses a clamp-and-release action to make multiple micro-loops
that boost the .
The brown recluse is a ground-dwelling spider and thus it needs a different web-
crafting technique to .
Efforts to create a spider-inspired synthetic product are being made by scientists, who
have developed
describing the web’s structure and properties. Scientists foresee the usage of the
product in space structures & vehicles that can shield it from micro-meteorites or
.
about:blank 3/4
5/24/23, 3:55 PM DIV Contents
10
The new synthetic material could potentially improve upon any existing
.
about:blank 4/4
