Amazing find: snail teeth are the strongest material in nature

You've pressed a hard candy bar, and now you need to find a dentist. Wouldn't it be nice if your teeth were stronger? Believe it or not, it's time to start being jealous of snails. Scientists recently discovered that a species of sea snails called clam has the strongest teeth of any known organism. In fact, clam teeth are the most powerful biological material ever known!

Clam teeth can withstand more pressure than it takes to obtain a diamond from carbon. Maybe it is she that we should put in our fingers!

The real power of the teeth of snails:

Clam teeth have a tensile strength of between 3 and 6.5 GPa. A pascal is equal to one newton per square meter and a gigapascal is equal to one billion pascals. If you're sober, this definition may seem a little confusing, but it's easier to put pascal and gigapascals in perspective when you think of spider silk.

Before scientists discovered how strong clam teeth are, they believed that spider silk is the strongest biological material, and spider silk has a tensile strength of 1.3 GPascals. This means that clam teeth are five times stronger than spider silk. According to one estimate, spider silk, pound for pound, has five times the tensile strength of steel. Steel is stronger than spider silk in other ways, but the truth is that spider silk is amazing, and clam teeth are five times more spectacular.

Clam teeth aren't as hard as diamonds, but diamonds, on the other hand, don't grow as parts of living things, making clam the king of the "Who has the strongest body part" competition.

When you see snails in your garden, you may be upset, but the sea snail, the cousin of these annoying creatures, whose shell reaches 60 mm in length, is one of nature's true wonders. It may have taken a long time for the clam to get the recognition it deserves because its teeth are so small: the clam teeth, which are below his tongue like an appendage, are less than a millimeter long.

How does clam use its teeth?

If you're thinking of getting an offensive clam because of its amazingly powerful teeth, think again. Clam does not use its teeth to grind its prey and send it into oblivion. Rather, it uses them to scrape rocks when it feeds on algae. Having such hard teeth is essential, because if his teeth are not very sturdy, the rock will quickly gnaw them and will end up with nothing, and the clam will become unable to eat. The curved shape of the teeth, combined with their strength, makes them ideal to help the clam eat its favorite food.

Clam can live between 10 to 20 years, so it is necessary that its teeth hold out for a long time under harsh conditions. Not surprisingly, sea snails do not get much nutrition from the rocks they scrape with algae. Do you want another fun fact? Clam waste is somewhat similar to concrete.

Why are his teeth so strong?

So what contributes to the unnatural strength of clam teeth? Teeth contain a metal known as gothaite, a dark rock containing iron, common in many formations around the world. In fact, you'll likely see some gothaite the next time you drive through Colorado.

Gothia can be in any number of colors, ranging from iridescent to reddish-brown and many colors in between. Yes, these snails contain in their teeth the same substance that persisted in rock formations thousands of years ago. Moreover, the gothite in the clam teeth is protein-coated, which strengthens them even more.

Why are humans interested in this discovery?

Scientists are excited about this discovery because of its ability to help them design powerful new materials. In fact, there is a term that describes the use of nature's best features in human applications: biomime.

Biomimes have already given humanity a lot to be thanked. Velcro fixation is inspired by burdock, a plant that grows in the Swiss Alps. The kingfisher inspired the design of the introduction of Japan's bullet train; the new design greatly reduces the noise these trains make when they exit the tunnels. The inner workings of the hives were the idea behind the method of distributing energy. The aerodynamics of a species of fish inspired the design of the car. These are just a few examples of ideas that nature has already given to humans.

There are countless potential applications of the principles underlying clam teeth. Looking into clam teeth can lead to stronger buildings and safer cars. But that's not all, it could lead to an alternative to Kevler bulletproof fibers. Of course, all clam tooth ideas are in their infancy, so we'll have to be patient to discover how these sticky sea creatures will help create a better world for people walking on two legs.