Physics students calculate how Darwin's bark spider silk is strong enough to halt carriages

• Young scientists calculated exactly how strong spider silk would be if used in large quantities
• Found the Darwin's bark spider, from Madagascar, creates orb-shaped webs tougher than any other known and more than 10 times stronger than Kevlar

Spider-Man's webbing really could stop a train if it recreated what exists in nature, research has shown.

In the film Spider-Man 2, the superhero shoots strands of the material at surrounding buildings to prevent a runaway train plummeting to disaster.

The scene seems far fetched even by Hollywood standards, but not according to a group of young British scientists investigating the amazing properties of spider's silk.

They calculated that, scaled up to Spider-Man proportions, it would be strong enough to halt a four-car New York subway train travelling at full speed.

The three University of Leicester physics students worked out the force needed to overcome the train's momentum - an enormous 300,000 Newtons.

To avoid breaking, every cubic metre of Spider-Man's web would have to soak up almost 500 million joules of energy.

Incredibly, they found one spider spins silk that is up to the job.
Darwin's bark spider, from Madagascar, creates orb-shaped webs tougher than any other known and more than 10 times stronger than Kevlar.

One of the young scientists, Alex Stone, 21, from Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, said: 'It is often quoted that spider webs are stronger than steel, so we thought it would be interesting to see whether this held true for Spider-Man's scaled up version.

'Considering the subject matter, we were surprised to find out that the webbing was portrayed accurately.'

The research is published today in the latest issue of the University of Leicester's Journal of Physics Special Topics.
Each year the journal features original short papers written by Master of Physics degree students.

Co-author James Forster, 22, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, said: 'While our work may not seem to be very serious it has helped teach us about applying physics to varying situations as well as the peer review process through which scientific journals operate. 

'This makes it an invaluable experience to anyone who wants to go into research later in life.'

Course leader Dr Mervyn Roy, a lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: 'A lot of the papers published in the journal are on subjects that are amusing, topical or a bit off-the-wall. 'Our fourth years are nothing if not creative.

'But, to be a research physicist - in industry or academia - you need to show some imagination, to think outside the box, and this is certainly something that the module allows our students to practice.'