How does a marker bleed in water?

Question

Okay, I need help because my research found nothing. Part of a project I have is to make a marker line on a piece of paper and dip the paper in water to see how many colors it bleeds (it basically makes a colorful butterfly when done properly). So how does that work? Is it diffusion or something else? And why does it bleed different colors?

Answer 1

I can only think that the dyes used to make up the marker pen colour (like red and blue = purple) have different molecular weights and therefore diffuse at different rates.