Like insects, lobsters and crabs, spiders are arthropods, which is Greek for ‘jointed legs’. Spiders have eight legs, insects have only six. A spider’s body is in two parts, with six silk glands on the end of the back part. From these glands comes a liquid which turns into silk on contact with air.
As it is produced, a spider holds the silk thread with one leg. It can vary the kind of silk. When spinning a web, a garden spider begins with a large thread square. Then it works from the middle of the edge, puffing in about thirty strokes or rays of thread. Then it changes direction again and makes a series of sticky spirals from the centre outwards.
To complete the web, a spider spins a thread from the centre to a hiding place nearby. Webs can be 3 meters across or as small as a postage stamp.
(Taken from Bahasa Inggris, Materi PTBK Buku 2)