In a new finding, scientists from the U.K. (University of Portsmouth) have announced that the teeth of shelled, aquatic creatures called limpets are the strongest biological material on Earth. According The Washington Post, this bio-material overtakes the previous record-holder: spider silk.
Limpet is a common name applied to aquatic snails with shells broadly conical in shape. The teeth of these sea animals are so tiny that they can only be seen with a microscope. The teeth are composed of very thin, tightly-packed fibers containing a hard mineral called goethite. In their natural environment, limpets use a compact tongue, that is bristling with tiny teeth, to scrape food off rocks and into their mouths. They often swallow particles of rock during this process.
The teeth need to be very tough because limpets use the teeth to scrape food off of rocks. The material has a strength of 5 gigapascals, which is some five times the strength of most spider silks. The amount of weight the material can withstand is relative to a strand of spaghetti used to hold up 3,300 pounds. To show this, the scientists ground 10 of the tiny teeth into a minuscule dog-bone shape so that they could precisely measure the composite’s tensile strength (this is the amount of force it can withstand before breaking.) This means that the bio-material has a strength approaching values comparable to those of the strongest man-made fibers.
The lead researcher told the BBC that “Biology is a great source of inspiration as an engineer. These teeth are made up of very small fibres, put together in a particular way – and we should be thinking about making our own structures following the same design principles.”
The scientists behind the discovery are hopeful the material can be utilized to build super-strong parts for planes, boats and dental fillings.
The findings have been published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The research paper is called “Extreme strength observed in limpet teeth.”
