# How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't grow in it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528 "2015-08-31T19:40:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/21 "2015-09-01T16:27:16Z")
Agree about both the hats and that the OP is syntactically correct English amounting to pure semantic gibberish. It vaguely resembles some existing jokes about sponges in the ocean, but even then it gets the punchline sideways. It’s often said it’s hard to communicate across an IQ gap over 20 points and all but impossible at 50 points. I’d say the demonstrated gap between the OP & the SDMB is right up there. ---
**Author:** ![JimNightshade](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jimnightshade/32/3354_2.png) [@JimNightshade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimNightshade)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/22 "2015-09-01T20:01:49Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > It makes perfect sense. Sponges soak up water so they must be soaking up the ocean if that’s where they live. Therefore the ocean would have more water if the sponges weren’t soaking it up. > > It’s funny because it’s stupid. > > Kinda like certain politicians. I am amazed it even got serious replies to be honest 🙂 I thank you all, scientists, pedants, oceanographers and biologists - I sure learned a lot in many different categories of science. Which opens up another can of worms: Why do scientists call it research when looking for something new? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/23 "2015-09-01T20:01:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That depends on what hat he’s currently wearing. > > And I still maintain that the question is nonsensical, in a way that (say) the pipeline from the Great Lakes to California isn’t. One can envision such a pipeline, and if actually built, it could be made to work. It’d be insanely expensive and wholly impractical, but it makes _sense_. But putting sponges in the ocean does _nothing_. Taking sponges out of the ocean would do something, and would make sense in a pipeline sort of way, but that’s not what the question is asking. Are you serious? You just don’t get the joke? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/24 "2015-09-01T21:13:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Why would the oceans be deeper without sponges? How do they help solve global warming? Do you think that sponges absorb water and magically reduce the volume of that water? This educational video explains. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqL6NoGkquA) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/25 "2015-09-01T21:19:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Personally, I have a hard time even comprehending the mindset that would make this question meaningful. Great contribution to fighting ignorance. Bravo. Bravissimo. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/26 "2015-09-01T22:03:34Z")
> [@JimNightshade](#): > > Which opens up another can of worms: Why do scientists call it research when looking for something new? Not a dumb question. Research is a study of existing knowledge and resources (re-search; search again) but you can make new discoveries by seeing something nobody noticed before, by combining known things in new ways, or extrapolating new information by analyzing known information. An example is using research to discover that a well-known chemical cures an illness. The chemical isn’t unknown, the illness isn’t unknown, but your new application of the chemical is a discovery. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/27 "2015-09-01T22:52:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, I know it’s an old comedian’s joke (and I think it was Jack Handy), but that still doesn’t change the fact that, for the joke to work, it has to make sense. How many amoebas does it take to screw in a lightbulb?\* One. No, two! No, four!, No, eight! No… \*{joke stolen from Bill Bailey} ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/28 "2015-09-01T23:15:56Z")
The joke works _precisely because it doesn’t make sense._ ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/29 "2015-09-02T00:49:00Z")
That’s the beauty of it! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/30 "2015-09-02T02:19:53Z")
Forget sponges–we should just dehydrate the water. ---
**Author:** ![MrQwertyasd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@MrQwertyasd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrQwertyasd)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/31 "2015-09-02T03:11:09Z")
> [@JimNightshade](#): > > It seems to me that sponges could save us from global warming - just breed a bunch of them and problem solved! > > Or is it more complicated than that? Beautiful question. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/32 "2015-09-02T06:42:42Z")
Easy! We go there when the tide is out! ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528/33 "2015-09-02T18:39:55Z")
It is Steven Wright for sure. > **[Quotes from Stephen Wright](http://www.catb.org/esr/fortunes/stephen-wright.html)** > > Quotes on zen comedy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-deeper-would-the-ocean-be-if-sponges-didnt-grow-in-it/729528.md?page=1)