-
Asked by KK to Hannah, Joanna, Joe, Luis, Vincent on 16 Jun 2016.
-
Hannah Grist answered on 16 Jun 2016:
Awesome q! Surprisingly, one of the strongest natural materials is found somewhere you would probably never think of: it’s the stuff limpet tongues are made out of. Limpets are small animals with domed shells that live on rocky beaches around the UK: you can find hundreds of them if you look when you go to the seaside. They move (very slowly) when the tide is in, and lick algae off the rocks for food: they are a bit like cows or sheep, grazing on the seaside plants!
You can imagine that if you are licking rocks the whole time, you would need to have a tongue made of pretty strong stuff. The tongue is made of minerals, and is covered in tiny teeth (how weird is that?) that can scrape the rocks. It’s so strong, scientists are trying to make materials like it to cover aircraft and tanks!
-
-
Vincent Keenan answered on 20 Jun 2016:
The strongest natural material is carbon! But only after it has been compressed enough by the weight of the earth. It’s incredibly valuable, particularly for jewellery makers. If you haven’t guessed yet its diamond!
-
Joe Nunez-Mino answered on 22 Jun 2016:
There are some incredibly tough natural materials out there. Spiders silk is 5 times stronger that steel. I think Hannah is right in saying Limpet tongues and Vincent is also correct with Diamonds. It really depnds on how you choose to measure strength. If you test materials against heat, some really tough ones melt at lower temperatures.
Comments