note on spider silk strength the strength of spider silk is highly variable it depends on many factors including type of silk every spider can produce several different types for different purposes the particular species the age of the silk the temperature the humidity the rate at which stress is applied during testing the length of time the stress is applied and the way the silk is collected forced silking or natural spinning the value shown in the table  mpa is roughly representative of the results from a few studies involving several different species of spider however specific results varied greatly