Spiders are known for spinning webs to catch their food. However they also have to travel the area of the web in order to reach their prey. Not to mention making trips up and down the wall on a single strand of the web. Does that mean that spiders also tend to lose control and spin rapidly when descending?

Unlike rappelling for humans where the rope may send the person spinning out of control when twisted, a spider will never spin out of control on it’s thread. This is because the drag-line from the web hardly twists unlike materials such as synthetic fibers that ropes are made out of, or even human hair.

Experiments conducted by the scientists at the American Institute of Physics have found that the material of a spider’s web is unlike any other material found in nature. It has the ability to partially yield when twisted allowing it to remove nearly 75% of the potential energy created by the movement.

Naturally the oscillation is also reduced. This allows it to quickly dissipate the energy which other cause the spider to spin down the drag-line as it moves from the ceiling to the floor. This science study shows that it is nearly impossible for a spider to spin out of control.