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Sara Goodacre
Sara Goodacre. Illustration: Philip Partridge/GNM Imaging
Sara Goodacre. Illustration: Philip Partridge/GNM Imaging

Ask a grown-up: how do spiders stick to walls and ceilings

This article is more than 9 years old
Sara Goodacre, head of the University of Nottingham's SpiderLab, answers six-year-old Hannah's question

If you could take a really close look at a spider, then you would see that their feet are covered in tiny little triangular hairs. They look a little bit like paddles on the ends of stalks, and they give the spider a much bigger surface area. When the feet make contact with a wall or ceiling, they create a force – a temporary attraction between the bottom of the spider's foot and whatever surface it's on (the grown-up name for it is van der Waals forces).

So, how do they move without getting stuck? They can change the angle at which these little hairs are stuck to the wall. It's a bit like a Post-it note; tug at it from the middle and it won't budge, but you can peel it from one corner very easily. Spiders are actually very vulnerable. If a tarantula fell from a height, it would squish, because all its organs are in its abdomen and it doesn't have a skeleton to protect them. So they have to be very good at holding on.

If you are 10 or younger and have a question that needs answering, email ask.a.grownup@theguardian.com, and we'll find an expert to look into it for you.

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