Spiders webs, how do they do it?

[Compostella]

In our garden, there is a spiders web that is suspended from a long piece of web that is 1 strand, spun horizontally between the house and a tree.

This horizontal part must be about 15 feet across so my question is, how did the spider get from the house to the tree to spin this part of the web as it didn't have gravity to help it?

Surely it didn't jump did it?

[weeal]

no it ran along the pavement and climbed up the tree with it as a starter

i agree webs are very clever tho I always smash em cos i hate spiders

[Compostella]

?

[weeal]

right it has it in its grubby little mits (like a rope) runs down the wall along the pavement up the tree and eh Voila! a strand of web straight across from the house to the tree

well, thats how I would do it if I were a spider

[terambulan]

It jumped on your head and jumped off when you got t'other side.

[wildwood]

The first strand is a sticky one and it floats in the wind until it hits something and sticks. It takes very little breeze to float a spider's thread.
From there it builds a non-sticky frame and finished with the sticky 'trap silk' that traps the victims.
Spider's silk is stronger than the best man-made steel spun out to the same diameter.

[Ice.Maiden]

Whilst it's true what wildwood's just said, spiders often use one strand of silk as a ladder down to the ground. The wind, or being caught against heavier objects, can dislodge this, and because of its sticky nature, might then be blown back upwards, attaching itself to any given point. This often appears as a "clothes line" , and because the protein-based substance is stretchy like elastic, it can be several feet long.

[andy-hughes]

Thanks for that.

I was hanging out the washing a couple of mornings ago, it was very misty, so webs showed up very clearly, including one from the decking post to a garden chair, a distance of about six feet, and i did wonder how the spider got from one point to the other.