sponges

[janeo]

How are sponges made? (Especially all those little holes!)

[Pea Pod]

Sponges are not made they are living creatures which are harvested from the bottom of the sea. Puts you off using a proper one doesn`t it.

[B00]

Everything you ever wanted to know about sponges- and then some!

http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00647/id17 .htm

[janeo]

Thanks for the answers but I meant the synthetic sponges I use to clean around the house. (I should've made that clearer)

[Lonnie]

Pea Pod and Boo are correct, the ones you use around the house, from cleaning floors and windows, to using in the bath or shower, are the ones that used to be alive at the bottom of the sea.

[janeo]

I stand corrected! Thanks for the info everyone.

[Birt]

Synthetic sponges are made form various materials see here
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Sponge.html

[wilsarnie]

They're clever to grow with little green rough bits on top of them then...

[scuzzball]

Lonnie is incorrect - the majority of sponges used in uk households are synthetic.

[janeo]

What are they made of & how do they get all the holes in them?

[B00]

Found this......

While it is true that real sea sponges have been in use since the Roman Empire, synthetic alternatives made primarily from wood pulp became commonplace by the middle of the 20th century when DuPont perfected the process of manufacturing them. Today most of the sponges we use are made from a combination of wood pulp (cellulose), sodium sulphate crystals, hemp fibers and chemical softeners.

Some forest advocates decry the use of wood pulp for producing sponges, claiming that the process encourages logging, but the manufacture of cellulose-based sponges is a pretty clean affair. No harmful byproducts result and there is little waste, as trimmings are ground up and recycled back into the mix.

Another common type of artificial sponge is made of polyurethane foam. These sponges excel at cleaning but are less ideal from an environmental perspective, as the manufacturing process relies on ozone-depleting hydrocarbons (set to be phased out by 2030) to blow the foam into shape. Also, polyurethane can emit formaldehyde and other irritants and can form cancer-causing dioxins when incinerated.

Which was taken from this URL.
http://www.bayweekly.com/year06/issuexiv5/eart htalkxiv5.html