Food coloring and sponges

[murrayp4]

Just wondering has anyone ever brought down some food colouring or similar to see the filtering action of sponges? would normal household colouring damage the sponge?
Bit of a nerdy Q, I know, but I've always been curious...

 

[murrayp4]

Bump?...3

 

[Walter]

I've seen videos of it, but I've never done it myself. I doubt it would be harmful, but I honestly don't know.

 

[gangrel441]

Probably make for some pretty interesting colored sponges, though....

 

[Walter]

As I said, I've only seen it on video, so I didn't examine the sponges up close, but it didn't appear to color the sponges. The colored water merely went in the side and came out the center, quite quickly.

 

[rcohn]

Just heard a talk by Dee Scarr this weekend. She had a photo where food coloring was placed on the outside of a sponge and you could see it coming out of the tube. She said it only took a matter of seconds. I believed she assumed that the food coloring would not hurt the sponge.

Ralph

 

[Walter]

It's almost immediate.