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Assignment -1
By: Sharvil Sheth 201901201

Q. Could a spider’s webbing be strong enough to stop a train?

A. Consider,

Speed of Train = 90 km/h(given) = 25 m/s.

Time taken to stop the train = 50s (approx. from the video)

Thus, acceleration

= (vf-vi)/t = (0-25)/50 = -0.5 m/s^2

Distance covered by the train after shooting web

= vit + ½ at^2 = 25(50) + ½(-0.5)(50)^2 = 625 m

For total mass of train (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R160_(New_York_City_Subway_car)),

In the video we can see that the train is made up of 4 carriages.

Average weight of a NYC subway train carriage = 38,600 Kg

Each carriage can carry 252 passengers. Considering full capacity.

Assuming every passenger is an adult, average weight of an adult = 62kg.

Thus total mass = 38600*4 + 252*62*4 kg = 216,896 Kg.

 Now the Youngs modulus of this web = F*L/A*dL

Now the total Force is divided into 16 strands as we can see in the video.

So force on each strand F=ma/16 = 216896*0.5*1/16 = 6778 N

L = initial length of web = avg width of a street in NYC/2 = 100/2 = 50m

(http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2012/11/19/all-new-york-city-streets-are-not-created-equal/)

A = cross section area of spiderman’s web(since it is not the same as a spider and is
pretty visible to the naked eye, lets assume it to be equal to the area of the cable of my
earphones with diameter 2mm) = pi*(1mm)^2 = 0.00000314 m^2

dL= change in length of web = distance covered by train = 625 m

Y = (6778*50)/(0.00000314 *625) = 172,468,193 N/m^2 = 1.72 Gigapascals

Which is far lesser than

Darwin’s bark spider silk which is also the toughest biomaterial ever studied.

Whose young’s modulus is 1850/33 = 56 Gigapascals.

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2939878/)

And also lesser than the Young’s modulus of the average spider’s silk which is around 20
Gigapascals.

Conclusion: Indeed, a spider’s web is strong enough to stop a train!

Also credits to Spiderman for shooting 16 strands of web since if he had shot less, the
Young’s modulus might have exceeded the limit, the strings would have broke(which
happened when he shot just two of them) and he would not have been able to stop the
train.