How does a spider make a web? Cells inside its body make a liquid silk, and the spider pulls it out into amazing threads!
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Inside a spider's round back part, called the abdomen, are pouches called silk glands. The cells lining these glands are silk makers.
Scroll up to the 3D model and press Cut it open to see the silk glands inside.
The liquid silk flows down thin tubes to the spinnerets, little nozzles at the back end of the spider.
As the spider pulls the silk out, the liquid gets squeezed and stretched. This turns it into a solid thread!
Press Spin silk to follow the liquid silk from a gland out of a spinneret.
Some spiders eat their old web to recycle the silk proteins and make new silk.
For how little it weighs, spider silk is super strong. Some spider silk is stronger than a steel wire of the same weight. It can also stretch without snapping.
Spiders use silk for webs, safety lines when they drop, wrapping food, and egg sacs. Some baby spiders even float through the air on silk threads!
On a cool morning, look for a spider web covered in dew. The drops make the threads easy to see. Look closely, but don't break it. A spider worked hard on it!