Web-Shooters

The Web-Shooters are mechanical, wrist-mounted devices created and worn by Spider-Man to fire web fluid.

## History

Upon gaining his powers from the radioactive spider and crafting his Spider-Man persona, Peter Parker decided to create his web-shooters as a way to augment his then-burgeoning television career. Upon the death of his Uncle Ben, however, he instead repurposed them as his primary weapons in the fight against crime.

## Capabilities

> "*The trigger is this sensitive electrode located here, in my palm. It requires exact pressure from these two fingers, so that I don't accidentally activate it when I make a fist or grab something.*"
> ― Spider-Man
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* The web shooter is a small, compact device that fits on Peter Parker's wrists. They are small enough to not be noticed under his costume. The device holds small capsules of compact web fluid. They are loaded into the device and sprayed out through small tubes that extend through the costume. A pressure sensitive button extends into his palm. It is pressed with the middle and ring fingers together, but will not work if the whole hand is put into a fist. The spray changes depending on the amount of pressure. The shooter can create a variety of sprays to create web lines, balls, sprays, hammocks, bags, or even hang gliders.
* Spider-Man's web-shooters are twin devices, which he wears on his wrists beneath the gauntlets of his costume, that can shoot thin strands of a special "web fluid" (the chemical composition of which is not known, but which is described--see below--as being a "shear-thinning" substance) at high pressure. (Note: The fluid itself is officially described as being pressurized at 300 psi, but the actual number has been known to change.) The spinneret mechanisms in each web-shooter are machined from stainless steel, except for the turbine component, which is machined out of a block of Teflon, and the two turbine bearings, which are made of amber and artificial sapphire. The wristlets and the web-fluid cartridges, the latter of which Spider-Man wears on his belt beneath his costume's tunic, are mainly nickel-plated annealed brass. The wristlets have sharp steel nipples, which pierce the bronze caps when the cartridges are tightly wedged into their positions. The hand-wound solenoid-needle valve on each web-shooter is actuated by a palm switch; this, in turn, is protected by a band of spring steel which requires a 65-pound pressure to trigger it. The switch of each is situated high on Spider-Man's palm to avoid most unwanted firings. An additional safety measure, to prevent misfires while Spider-Man is making a fist or carrying things, is that the trigger has to receive a double-tap from Spider-Man's middle and third fingers. The small battery compartment is protected by a rubber seal. The effect of the very small turbine pump vanes is to compress (shear) the web fluid and then force it, under pressure, through the spinneret holes, which cold-draws it (stretches it: the process wherein nylon gains a four-fold increase in tensile strength), then extrudes it through the air, where it solidifies. As the web fluid exits the spinneret holes, it is attracted to itself electrostatically, and thus can form complex shapes. The spinneret holes have three sets of adjustable, staggered openings around the turbine which permit a single, incredibly strong line; a more complex, spreading spray; and a thick, tremendously adhesive liquid. The web line's tensile strength has been estimated to be 120 pounds per square millimeter of cross section. The 300 p.s.i. pressure in each cartridge is sufficient to force a stream of the complex web pattern an estimated 60 feet. (It goes significantly farther if Spider-Man shoots it in a ballistic parabolic arc.)