Friday, January 26, 2018

Thesis (non-presentation day)

Thursday we didn't present. I prepped for my presentation Monday. I couldn't post yesterday 'cause of the stupid wifi, so that threw me off my blog routine.

Quick spoiler:

Spider silk can be coated with gold or carbon nanotubes to become an excellent conductor of electricity, and it's only a small fraction of the width of human hair. This has major implications for everything involving electronics. (which is essentially, a lot of things.) You can make circuits and therefore devices much, much, much smaller.

So ya, that's pretty significant application...

Can you imagine the implications of being able to implement this into every technology?! You can make computers the same size they are now, but several times more powerful. More technologies could become possible. Remember before the first integrated circuit? The IC changed modern technology. With such a universal improvement, this could be big.

In my presentation, I plan to explore this and several other potential applications that would revolutionize modern life and technology.

- Noah

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Thesis Presentations Day 1

Today we listened to presentations. I took notes, made comments, etc. Honestly disappointed I won't be presenting Thursday.

- Noah

Friday, January 19, 2018

Thesis work day - chemical analysis

Today I worked on learning more about silk structure, more specifically chemical composition.

I also created a nifty pie chart that easily visualizes how much of the protein is made from glycine and alanine.

I will definitely be ready for my presentation.



- Noah

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Thesis Presentation work day 2

Today I primarily worked on the "Potential Applications and Uses" section of my presentation. It's the main focus of my thesis and should serve as an adequate "wow" factor. I won't show the slide so I won't spoil it.

Here's a different slide though:




Noah

Friday, January 12, 2018

Presentation Preparation

Today I worked the entire period on my presentation that will happen in a couple of weeks. I decided to go ahead and work on it. I actually got into it, I didn't realize I had spent an hour and a half preparing this presentation. I'm mostly done, I just need to put in more information and practice presenting it.

This is my first slide:

Hopefully, it'll be a cool presentation.

- Noah

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

First Day Back (After Winter Break)

After two weeks off, it's good to be back in school. I'm excited for E&M and learning more about the mathematics of integrals in calculus.

Today in thesis, I worked on organizing what information I will be presenting and synthesizing from. I focused on my first topic: Structure and Resulting Properties. I found multiple new authoritative resources specific to this topic. Over the next few weeks, I will be progressing through my topics and eventually will craft a paper that will present what I have learned. I can also at that time begin preparing how I will deliver my presentation. I might also like to know what professions the judges will be. Because my topic is so specific, I'm not sure how familiar they might be with it; this will influence how I present my information and research.

Structure and Resulting Properties

Spider silk exists as a chain of proteins, a polymer, with varying and repeating structures that give it both rigidity and elasticity. It exists as 𝛽-sheets that form helices (𝛼-helices in solution). “Amyloid fibrils share similarities with 𝛽-sheets of spider silk and have been observed in the distal third of the spinning duct by electron microscopy (EM), and it was proposed that the spidroin repetitive parts are responsible for the amyloidogenic behavior.” (“Carbonic Anhydrase…” pg 3) Rich in glycine and alanine residues.
𝛽-sheets allow for the mechanical/tensile strength of spider silk
Macroscopic Structure:
Essentially, silk exists as a layered cord with an external crystalline “skin” that covers an internal structure of polypeptides. This skin protects the integrity of the inside while also allowing the silk to be antimicrobial. The inside can best be described as 𝛽-sheets, covalently connected, suspended in an amorphous “gel.”(?)
Outer Layer and Shock/Energy Absorption: “Outer layers of Nephila madagascariensis show a thin peripheral layer [of skin] with elongated cavities...oriented parallel to silk fiber axis. These domains act as stress concentration points, crack initiators that inhibit the spreading of  the cracks by delaying the rupture of the fiber by taking up the energy. The inhibition effect of these domains arise from self repairing of cracks by solidification under high stress areas, plasticizing effect by hydration to act as fluid shock absorbers, and act as a lubricant to reduce the inter[-]fibrillar friction.” (3. Pg 8)
“Under tension, the glycine-rich sequences are able to perform large-scale beta sheet crystal structures that are less perfectly ordered than polyalanine crystals.” (3. Pg 8)
Optical Properties (Birefringence): “The birefringence of Nephila clavipes liquid protein  is low to the extent of .01 to .002 and the contribution of form birefringence to the total birefringence of the fiber has been found to be more significant.” (3. Pg 9)
Thermal Properties:
Y (Thermal expansion coefficient) = -10.6 x 10⁻⁴ ℃⁻¹
“...fibers are thermally stable up to 230℃.” (3. Pg 11)
Electrical Properties:
Spider silk is not piezoelectric.
Fine Structure:
Spider silk has both amorphous (oriented and non-oriented) and crystalline regions.
Primary-
Secondary-
Tertiary-
Quaternary-
References:

Synthesis: The Chemical and Physical Processes

Replication in a Laboratory for Biomimetic Synthesis

Designing and Constructing a Theoretical “Biomimetic Silk Spinner”

Potential Applications and Uses
References:




- Noah