Facilitator: Mrs. Evelyn Rios Mentor: Jay Stanke october/t4.jpg /spider-web-710.jpg Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ This TechXplore project was done and completed by Levin T., Robin C., and Huray U. of Bergen County Academies, NJ. The project was also greatly helped by our mentor, Jay Stanke and our facilitator, Evelyn Rios. This experiment dealt with engineering a new structure and use of material for buildings to become more durable against natural forces like earthquakes. Super Spider Silk

 Robin C. - A sophomore student attending the medical academy at BCA. This member was the designer and contributed to research.  Levin T. - A sophomore student attending the medical academy at BCA. This member completed the problem summary and contributed to research.  Huray U. – A sophomore student attending the medical academy at BCA. This member designed our powerpoint and contributed to research.

 The problem is that there are many weak buildings that collapse due to natural disasters, like earthquakes and hurricanes. In 2004, there was a total of 1672 earthquakes worldwide with magnitudes between 5.0 and 9.9. There was a total of 228,802 casualties. This is a problem because many casualties occur when a building collapses. This is also a financial detriment to the community because monetary compensation is needed to restore the building or at least clean up the damage. The United States spent $6.2 billion on hurricane damage between 1985 and This affects anyone living or working in a building and tax payers, especially people in areas where earthquakes and other natural disasters are prominent. If this problem goes unsolved, people will continue to be victims of natural disasters. If this problem were solved, less people would be affected by natural disasters. People would be able to live more peacefully without having to worry about sudden disasters that one cannot prepare for effectively.

 This problem is narrowly defined and can be solved by technology. The problem with collapsing buildings is that the base of the building is not strong enough. Because of this weakness, the building breaks apart. The base is the first target of any natural disaster. Also, the base supports the building, so if the base falls apart, the rest of the building falls apart as well. A technological solution that can solve this problem is spider silk. Spider silk is much stronger than steel and provides more structural support. Buildings with spider silk will have more structure and support so they will be less likely to collapse or be damaged by natural disasters.

Problem Annual earthquake death rate per million population in red; smoothed rates in grey (specifically, linear smoothing with 7-year Hann window).

 First Solution: To use spider silk to build stronger and more durable buildings by fully replacing the steel (or other material) in the bases of the columns that support the building. We might also be able to use it to connect the building’s main bricks so that it forms a protective shield from outside forces like UV rays and heat. If the building is made of steel then it would have a layer of the silk connecting them as well. This would make the spider silk strands take much more weight off the building steel and in fact make the building “lighter”.

 Second Solution: We can stop or decrease an earthquake’s harm to human life, by thinking of better design structures. An example would be like using “braces” (diagonal columns to support the base). An idea used in tables commonly.

 Third Solution: Another idea that can be used is to use shock absorbers or rubber like material that can block and perhaps lessen the impact on the buildings caused from the earthquakes. This material would be used on the bottom columns/bases (since that’s where the earthquake hits the most). The only problem would be that this wouldn’t work on taller buildings after a certain height because the support from the base would not cover enough of the shockwave to stop damage.

ApproachProsCons Spider SilkStrength; Light Weight; Flexible; Use of properties; Supports more weight Manufacturing of Spider Silk; Attachment methods BracesSupports BasesAdds more weight Shock AbsorbersFlexible; Supports more weight Cost; Moisture makes material weaker

 To fix and solve our problem of earthquake’s destructive effects, we have planned to use Solution 1.  To make and show our idea to be more realistic we have studied how other strong fibers like spider silk have been used, and the general design of architecture. We shall also look into the properties of spider silk that have been studied so far.

 Spider Silk has many interesting qualities that has intrigued many scientists.  Spider Silk is very elastic/flexible and yet is still the toughest and strongest fiber known to scientists. It is 5 times as strong as steel (in a weight to weight ratio) and will only break when stretched 2 to 4 times its original size. It can shield and keep warmth in freezing temperatures. But most importantly for our project is its ability to resist weakening against rain, fungus, heat, and UV light.  A thread with a radius of 3 cm. can stop a Boeing 747 in full flight.

 Kevlar is currently the world’s strongest man- made fiber. There have been attempts at using Kevlar to design strong structures, but the attempts have failed. Mainly because of the fiber’s lack of stickiness and flexibility.  With spider silk however, Kevlar’s failed attempt could be replaced with a successful outcome. Spider silk is stronger than Kevlar and can still bold extreme flexibility and unseen stickiness. These lack of properties was basically why Kevlar was not successful. ata/index.cfm?ID=s

 With spider silk’s flexibility it can absorb and redirect the shock from the other materials when an earthquake appears.  We designed to use spider silk to cover the base structures of buildings that support most of the building’s weight and is the cause of the collapsing of most buildings in a earthquake.  One example of our design is shown in the next slide. s_reno/build_01.jpg image/House_Extension_Rear.png

One inch in diameter of spider strand connecting the roof to the top of the house, thus making the earthquake vibrations lose power. Base columns of a building will be covered by a 1.5-inch thickness of spider silk strand if made by bricks/wood. Base columns of a building will contain a one-inch thickness of spider silk layer if they were made by steel. One inch in diameter of spider silk strand supporting each corner of the house from the outside and inside walls. Starts from the ground level of the house and connects to the roof.

This survey was given to the whole sophomore class. With feedback results, we concluded that this idea was feasible and could be effective. 1. Have you ever heard of our idea before? 0% Yes 100% No 2. Would you think our idea will actually be successful in protecting buildings and other structures from natural disasters? 75% Yes 25% No 3. Do you think this should become necessary for buildings if it ever becomes a reality? 62.5% Yes 37.5% No 4. Have you ever heard of spider silk? % Yes 18.75% No 5. Have you ever heard of any uses of spider silk? 37.5% Yes 62.5% No

6. Have you ever heard of technologies used to protect and strengthen buildings? 87.5% Yes 12.5% No 7. If you were an architect/engineer commissioned to construct a building, would you consider implementing spider silk into your plan? 68.75% Yes 31.25% No 8. Do you think this concept is realistic for future production? 62.5% Yes 37.5% No 9. Do you think this idea will become a widespread idea and possibility? 75% Yes 25% No 10. Do you think that this idea will be supported by architects and engineers around the world? 68.75% Yes 31.25% No

 Jay Stanke started working with Honeywell as an engineer in He has worked as a design engineer doing advanced electronic packaging of military aircraft electronics for 6 years, a manufacturing engineer of Electronic Circuit Assembly's for 3 years, an engineering manager for 3 years, and tool/process expert for Mechanical Computer Aided Engineering tools for 7 years. Currently, he is an internal consultant in the areas of structural and thermal analysis, specializing in durability of electronics for military aircraft. His interests and hobbies include bicycling, snowshoeing, and photography.

 Throughout the course of this project, all of our team members learned and grew. A lot of this project was dependent on out of class research, because we could only meet in class 2 times a week. To do this, we ed each other and tried to keep in contact almost every day. We sent each other all of our research, including websites and helpful documents. The teamwork aspect of this project was extremely emphasized. We also needed to learn and realize that other people depended on us and that we had to do our work on time. We all gained a sense of responsibility. We also definitely learned about our topic area (spider silk) and about technology in general and how powerful it can be.

This was a presentation about our project given to our technology sophomore class.

 We would like to give a special thanks to our facilitator, Mrs. Rios for supporting us all throughout this project, and to our mentor, Mr. Jay Stanke for helping us with our ideas and technical design on our project.  We also would like to thank TechXplore for giving us this wonderful opportunity to express our new ideas and work together as a team to accomplish our goals. ~ Super Spider Silk