I suppose creating an artificial "spiderweb" type of material will be much lighter than carying a parachute/glider. So if I can get enough out in time, I can make better, lighter parachutes / gliders.

See links.
-- pashute, Oct 21 2007

giant spiderweb found http://www.scienced...09/070912145919.htm
also shows ballooning (If you didn't read it in Wilbur when you were a kid) [pashute, Oct 21 2007]

google gives many results for artificial spider webs http://www.google.c...artifical+spiderweb
Not that expensive either. [pashute, Oct 21 2007]

http://www.cartoons...lowres/dpan672l.jpg [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 21 2007]

Spiderman's parachute is NOT like this idea http://www.heisanev...n_1_-_parachute.jpg
Spiderman's regular spiderchute made of spiderweb (spiderlink for spidermother's spideranno) [pashute, Jul 15 2011]

Great idea. You just know that it'll happen someday, but it was thought up years ago.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 21 2007


The cartoon shows an idea that wouldn't work. I'm serious about this idea, and it of course will not look at all like a single web. The idea is to have a "cloud like" canopy, emitted from a cansister.
-- pashute, Oct 22 2007


Methinks your cannister will be as large and carry enough substance under pressure (or more) as an equivalent hydrogen/helium cannister and balloon, and of course, let us not forget tensile strength. It is probably easy to eject enough surface area to slow you down *but* you have to remain tethered, else there is not much point. Any chain is as strong as its weakest link.
-- 4whom, Oct 22 2007


Even some large spiders can fly (balloon)
They do this by spinning a long thread. This effectively increases there surface area without increasing there weight. Then they need an updraught to get air born.
To do this for a human being would need; a very large, permeable, light weight parachute.
-- j paul, Jul 14 2011


I once saw a spider spin a long string of web out in a tight, expanding spiral. It produced about 10-15 inches and then the spider sailed away on a light breeze. Maybe the artificial web spinner could be engineered to do something like this.
-- Alterother, Jul 14 2011


Spider man spins his own parachute occasionally. Does that count as baked in fiction?
-- spidermother, Jul 15 2011


No. His web looks like a regular parachute [see linky], and I'm talking about a "cloud" of ultra thin thread, like real spiders do.
-- pashute, Jul 15 2011


Fair enough, [-ra]. Methinks you'll need some way to keep the threads separate - otherwise they'll all bunch up and kill you. Perhaps they could be attached to a large grid (but that would be even heavier than an ordinary parachute), or given a large electrical charge.
-- spidermother, Jul 15 2011


If there was a really long piece of mylar tape, ignoring breaking strain, how long would it need to be to slow your decent to a survivable velocity?
-- Ling, Jul 15 2011


Really long.
-- spidermother, Jul 15 2011


What if the mylar tape had a 'mandelbrot' surface to dramatically increase its surface area without significantly increasing its volume? How much added resistance would this create?
-- Alterother, Jul 17 2011


what did you mean
when you wrote whag
did you mean what?

-- pashute, Jul 17 2011


//I suppose creating an artificial "spiderweb" type of material will be much lighter than carying a parachute/glider.//

And yet why suppose this? I doubt that it is true. For very small masses and structures, air's viscosity becomes significant and can be used effectively. For larger masses and structures, this is less true and alternative solutions are needed.

A ram-air canopy weighs perhaps 5 pounds (aside from the pack, the 3-ring release, the harness and all the other paraphernalia, which you'll need anyway), yet can land a 200 pound person quite safely (and is also flyable and steerable - which is important). This is probably a better weight ratio than spiderlings' silk 'balloons', and way, way better than the ratio you'd get with a larger version of the same.

Basically, if spiders looked at parachutes, they'd be saying "wow! why didn't we think of that?". [-] for uncritical supposition, [+] for imagery. Net []
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 17 2011


Yes, I meant 'what.' Typo. Fixed.
-- Alterother, Jul 17 2011


[Alterother]
made a typo.
Now, he's fixed it.
-- mouseposture, Jul 17 2011


It happens. I'll be the first to agmit it.
-- Alterother, Jul 17 2011



random, halfbakery