Now, he could have made it out of anything, like fishing line or even steel, and yet he chooses to replicate spider silk.

他可以用任何東西做，釣魚線或鐵都行，但他卻選擇仿造蜘蛛絲。

Spider silk.

蜘蛛絲！

This kid is trusting his life to a flimsy-looking strand of arachnid goo.

這孩子將生命託付在看起來很脆弱、用蜘蛛黏液製成的黏絲。

But it turns out, if Peter's web is anything like real spider silk, then his web-slinging antics are more realistic than they might appear.

但結果發現，假如他的蜘蛛絲跟真的一樣，那他的射網滑稽動作會比想像中還可行。

Now, spider silk doesn't look very durable.

蜘蛛絲看起來不太耐用。

After all, a strand can be as little as 1/40 the thickness of a human hair, but, pound for pound, it's stronger than steel.

畢竟粗細只有人類毛髮的四十分之一，但同樣分量的蛛絲可是比鐵還堅固。

So if you twisted spider silk into a thread that was 2 millimeters wide, as thick as a strand of spaghetti, it could support 900 pounds before breaking, strong enough for a polar bear to hang from.

所以，若是將蜘蛛絲捲成一條兩毫米粗的線，像是義大利麵條的粗度，它可以支撐九百磅的重量，足夠吊著一頭北極熊。

So a scrawny kid, like Spider-Man? He's got this.

所以對蜘蛛人這身材瘦小的年輕人來說，絕對沒問題。

And that's just for a 2-millimeter-diameter webbing.

這還只是直徑兩毫米的蛛絲。

If he needs more, he just makes it a little bit thicker, and it could support even more weight.

如果有更大的需求，只要把蛛絲弄粗一點，就可以負重更多。

That's physicist Jim Kakalios, the author of "The Physics of Superheroes."

這位是物理學家 Jim Kakalios，書籍《超級英雄的物理學》的作者。

He says that the secret to spider silk's strength is its structure.

他說蜘蛛絲的祕密在於它的結構。

Real spider silk has two major components.

真正的蛛絲有兩個主要的部份。

Extremely rigid nanocrystals that make the silk sturdy and stretchy, elastic polymers that make it pliable.

非常堅硬的奈米晶體讓蛛絲堅固有彈性；彈性體則讓它易於彎曲。

That combination of tough and flexible makes the silk extremely hard to tear, and, if you look at Peter's lab notes, it looks like he tries to mimic that same structure.

這樣堅硬又柔韌的組合讓蛛絲很難被扯斷，如果你詳細看 Peter 的實驗筆記，你會發現他似乎想要仿造該構造。

So, it looks like it is a set of organic molecules that he is using, and he's trying to combine them in ways to polymerize them, to basically take these complex molecules, and link them together in longer chains that would then presumably fold down and develop these nanocrystals and the elastic polymers.

因此，他用的蛛絲看起來很像一組有機分子，想要用組合的方式使其聚合，基本上將這些複分子連成較長的鍊子，大概就能將奈米晶體和彈性體摺起來、展開。

But Peter may have gone one step further and actually made one improvement to his synthetic silk.

但 Peter 可能更進一步改良了他的合成絲。

I think that, instead of these little nanocrystals of proteins that spiders use, he might be using carbon nanotubes to provide the strength and rigidity.

我認為，他用的可能不是蜘蛛的蛋白質奈米晶體，而是奈米碳管，以提供絲的力量與硬度。

Carbon nanotubes are basically a sheet of carbon atoms that's been rolled up into a tube.

奈米碳管即碳結構圖被捲成管狀的樣子。

And if Jim's right, Peter is one smart high-school student, because these tiny tubes are actually some of the strongest material known to humans.

如果 Jim 的想法沒錯，Peter 真的是一名很聰明的高中生，因為這些小小的管子是人類已知最堅固的材料之一。

In fact, they're over 100 times as strong as steel.

事實上，它們比鐵堅固一百倍。

And that's when they're microscopic.

這是顯微鏡下的它們。

So, a spaghetti-thin strand of this stuff, like what we see in "Spider-Man"?

所以我們在《蜘蛛人》裡看到這樣如義大利麵條般粗細的線。

It could support far more than just 900 pounds.

可以支撐超過九百磅的重量。

That would be able to support over 40,000 pounds.

這樣可以支撐超過四萬磅的重量。

Suddenly that ferry scene doesn't seem so far-fetched, especially since we have the technology to make those nanotubes in real life.

突然間，郵輪的這一幕似乎沒那麼牽強，尤其當我們已經有製出這些奈米碳管的技術了。

Scientists at the University of Cincinnati, for example, have figured out how to grow carbon nanotubes in a lab and then spool them into threads.

辛辛納提大學的科學家已經找出在實驗室裡製造奈米碳管的方法了，並將其纏繞製成線狀。

Sadly, those threads aren't meant for skyscraper-swinging antics.

遺憾的是，這些線不是為了拿來在高樓大廈間擺盪。

The researcher's goal is a tad more practical.

研究人員的目的比較實際。

If you could manufacture it and make threads out of carbon nanotubes, you could make lightweight clothing that would be stronger than Kevlar.

如果能製造奈米碳管並將其做成線，就能生產比克維拉 (製造防彈衣的纖維之一) 還輕的衣物。

So, when you really think about it, the most unrealistic thing about Peter Parker's homemade webbing is that a high schooler figured out how to make it in his chem class.

因此，當你好好思考這問題，你會發現—最不切實際的是高中生 Peter Parker 在化學課找出製作蛛絲的方法。