What are sponges made of?
Question:I know it is from the sea and you see them in stalls on holiday but they are hard. Are the soft ones you use in the bath the same or are they made from different stuff
Answers:
Most answers here are correct but I do know what you mean...
We went to Greece on hols and I remember seeing stalls/baskets of deep yellow, dried out, holey sponges. They are a living thing from the sea but you are quite right in saying they look 'hard'. The are known as natural sponges.
They ARE hard! Once soaked and squeezed out in water a couple of times they go quite soft and you can use them to wash with. Mine would fall apart in the shower - well small bits were coming off the sponge and it eventually disintegrated. A small one I bought is good for applying foundation.
Synthetic sponges have smaller holes and in my opinion last longer when used in the shower. They are made from foam and are usually cut into various shapes. Natural ones are usually shaped like a rock and have bigger holes, the texture looks less fine than synthetic sponges and are generally more expensive to buy too.
A 'loofah' is the dried out structure of a climbing gourd. They look a bit like giant cucumbers and when the 'fruit' matures the centre goes tough and fibrous. Its the dried fibrous centre that is used for scrubbing in the bath!
Here are links to some pics for you:
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab...
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab...
they are made of foam, a kind of plastic
probably those are synthetic, because real sponges (as in the dead ones that used to be alive) are very expensive.
Sponges are living organisms from the sea. They make fake ones so as to not kill sea life. I am not sure which ones you are talking about though?
flour, sugar, water, fat, vanilla (optional). Ok, sorry, organic a bit like coral.
Yes they are from the sea, did you know that they are animals and not plants, I don't ever recall seeing a hard sponge!
Are you maybe getting mixed up with a 'luffa' which is a plant but not from the sea, its a gord, and handy for back scrubbing in the bath tub.
It looks a bit like an elongated sponge.
Real ones from the sea are from a once living creature...the sponge. The purple ones from the grocery are synthetic and much cheaper.
If you like real ones, go to Home Depot (make sure it is real not synthetic) or a wholesale paint store where they don't mark them up to $20.
We don't have stalls in the US, so you must be in England and visit Greece, so go to a local hardware store and stay away from Marks & Spencer.
Luffas are hard and are from a gourd while sponges are soft unless they are coated on one side for better scrubbing.
sponges are made from flour eggs butter and love mix this together and you have a super sponge ha ha xx
Sponges are made of four simple and independent cells. The first are the collar cells, which line the canals in the interior of the sponge. Flagella are attached to the ends of the cells and they help pump water through the sponge’s body. By pumping water, they help bring oxygen and nutrients to the sponge while also removing waste and carbon dioxide. The second cells are the porocytes, which are cells that make up the pores of the sponge. Epidermal cells form the skin on the outside of the sponge. Finally, the amoebocytes exist between the epidermal and collar cells in an area called the mesohyl. They carry out functions of the sponge and help transport nutrients. They also form spicules, which are the sponge’s skeletal fibers. They work together with the collar cells to digest the food for the sponge and produce gametes for sexual reproduction.
There are four different types of sponges from different classes: Calcarea, Hexactinellida, Demospongiae, and Sclerospongiae. They are split into the classes based on the type of spicules they have. For example, spicules may be made of calcium carbonate or a spongin fiber.
Sponges live in all types of regions all over the region. They are able to thrive in most environments. 99% of all sponges live in marine water, but some sponges made of spongin fiber live in freshwater. Sponges can be attached to surfaces anywhere as deep as 8km in the ocean on the bottom of the ocean floor. There are a higher number of sponge individuals and sponge species in the tropics of all regions because the water is warmer. They like to live in clearer waters over murky waters formed by currents. The murky waters may often clog the pores on the sponges so the sponge cannot get its nutrition and oxygen to survive.
Sponges are important in nutrient cycles in coral reef systems. Scientists believe they may be important factors to changes in water quality, whether good or bad. Scientists analyze how fast sponges breathe and the amount of nitrogen they release while doing so. Sponges collect bacteria when they filter the water around them. These bacteria are believed to be able to do many things. First, these bacteria may be able to create forms of nitrogen from the nitrogen gas in the water that may be nutritional for the sponge. They may also be able to turn ammonium from the sponge’s breathing into nitrogen gas that is then released into the atmosphere. This process would lower excess nitrogen levels in coral reefs, also preventing harmful ecosystem changes. Scientists believe that the conversion of nitrogen gas into useful nitrogen is also beneficial to the survival of other organisms in the area. They are hoping to have discovered a pathway for the removal of excess nitrogen from coral reefs.
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