Have you ever watched a spider web closely? it is a meticulous and ingenious work.

Spider web

Is created out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from the spinnerets of the spider. It constructs a web generally to catch its prey without having to expend energy by running it down. Insects can get trapped in spider webs, providing nutrition to the spider.
But not all spiders build webs to catch prey and some do not build webs at all.

Cobweb is used to describe the tangled three-dimensional web of some spiders of the Theridiidae family. This large family is also known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders, they actually have a huge range of web architectures.

Silk production

Spiders started making silk to protect their bodies and their eggs. Spiders gradually started using silk for hunting purposes, as signal lines, then as ground or bush webs, and eventually as the aerial webs that are familiar today.

Spiders produce silk from their spinneret glands located at the tip of their abdomen. Each gland produces a thread for a special purpose : sticky silk for trapping prey or fine silk for wrapping it.
Spiders use different gland types to produce different silks, and some spiders are capable of producing up to eight different silks during their lifetime.

Most spiders have three pairs of spinnerets, each having its own function (here are also spiders with just one pair and others with as many as four pairs).

Constructing the web is in itself an energetically costly process because of the large amount of protein required, in the form of silk. In addition, after a time the silk will lose its stickiness and thus become inefficient at capturing prey. It is common for spiders to eat their own web daily to recoup some of the energy used in spinning. The silk proteins are thus recycled. So spiders are ecologists 😉

The tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel and has much greater elasticity. Its microstructure is under investigation for potential applications in industry, including bullet-proof vests and artificial tendons.

Types of webs

There are a few types of spider webs found in the wild :

Spiral orb webs

Tangle webs or cobwebs

Funnel webs

Tubular webs

Sheet webs

Adhesive properties

The spiders's webs have droplets of glue suspended on the silk threads. This glue is multifunctional : at high velocities, they function as an elastic solid, resembling rubber and at lower velocities, they simply act as a sticky glue. The web is also electrically conductive which causes the silk threads to spring out to trap their quarry, as flying insects tend to gain a static charge which attracts the silk.

(Pictures source)