Real, with sources: dragline silk's stiffness (about 10 GPa), strength (about 1.1 GPa) and breaking stretch (27 %), and the capture spiral's softness (3 MPa) and stretch (270 %), all for garden-spider silk; that orb weavers' webs carry wind mostly below 10 Hz while buzzing prey adds faster vibration, that radii carry direction cues, that spiders run toward prey-like artificial vibrations, and that male courtship vibrations delay females' attacks. These behaviour findings come from several orb weavers (Nuctenea, Nephila, Zygiella, Argiope, and Araneus in web models), and the leg-organ findings come from a wandering spider; the page applies them to a garden spider. Gosline et al. 1999; Masters 1984b; Landolfa & Barth 1996; Mortimer et al. 2019; Klärner & Barth 1982; Wignall & Herberstein 2013; Barth & Geethabali 1982; Sensenig et al. 2012; Cranford et al. 2012.
Simplified, and said so: the web you see is a mass–spring model solved at 180 steps a second; what the spider feels is a separate 1 kHz channel of the same events, because a web solved 180 times a second cannot carry a 190 Hz buzz. The decision thresholds, the spider's speed and its wariness after a wasted run are ours. Silk density, the web's size and radius count, the 190 Hz fly buzz and the spider's 0.3 g mass are model values we chose. Each node carries 20 µg of extra numerical inertia for stability, which slows free motion; the silk's stiffness, strength and breaking strains are not scaled, and air drag is reduced to a quarter so motion stays visible. Full list in FACTS.md.
An orb web built from measured silk; the spider decides by vibration. Built by Sidra Miconi with Claude. Play link: sidramiconi.com/silk