Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
People Cut 86 Everyday Things In Half Showing Strange And Fascinating Insides
We deal with objects every day without giving their inner workings all that much thought. That is, until something goes wrong and they mysteriously stop working. If we’re lucky, sometimes it’s only a battery that needs replacing or a port that needs cleaning. But there are more serious cases, too. And that’s when, for the adventurous, the screwdrivers come out, sleeves are rolled up, and metaphorical guts are spilled. It’s hard not to see the appeal.
Sure, there’s something rewarding about fixing something yourself. It certainly beats having to replace it. But there’s also something innately satisfying about seeing an object’s innards—all those moving parts packaged so neatly and discreetly that we forget they’re even there. And that’s kind of the appeal of many of the cross-sections we’ve gathered for you today. You might never have stumbled upon objects like these, let alone had the opportunity or means to cut them open yourself. But there’s something fascinating about seeing what’s hidden beneath the surface, and surprisingly often, the results can be pretty exquisite.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Geologist Cut Rock In Half, Found The Cookie Monster
RELATED:
#2
Cross Section Of Cables
#3
Beautiful Fukang Meteorite
People have been cutting things open for centuries, whether driven by scientific curiosity or simply the need to understand how something works. To dissect something, after all, as Miranda Trimmier writes, “is a procedure, a way of looking, an investigation.”
We’ve probably all experienced some version of it with a fruit (particularly if it was an expensive exotic import)—slicing into it can expose a whole hidden world of seeds, chambers, and intricate patterns you likely couldn’t have imagined were there from the outside. Or maybe you’ve been mesmerized by the rings on a sawn tree trunk, a collective record of the fallen giant’s age, with each ring telling a story about its growing conditions over the years.
#4
Nautilus Shell Cut In Half. The Chambers Are Clearly Visible And Arranged In A Logarithmic Spiral
#5
The Alvord Meteorite, Found On An Iowa Farm In 1976, Iron Octahedrite Weighing 38.5 Lbs/17.5 Kg, About 18"/45.7cm Across
#6
Elephant's Foot
Yayheterogeneity 17 hours ago
It's always wild to see, that there's almost a human foot in there!
Botanists similarly take fine sections of stems, roots, and leaves to study the delicate architecture of plant anatomy. Often the results are quietly beautiful, pinned on many a Pinterest board. And geologists dig a little deeper still, cutting and polishing rocks to expose layers of geological history in a single cross-section.
But it’s a principle that extends beyond the natural world, too. Conservators can take careful, sometimes microscopic, cross-sections of paintings to examine their layers of paint and materials. Even the objects we build ourselves—buildings, batteries, engines, circuit boards—hold structures invisible from the outside, waiting to be exposed through a clean cut or a cutaway diagram.
#7
Firework Shell
#9
Poppy Capsule
In each case, cutting through something offers a perspective we simply can’t get from the outside. And that impulse isn’t hard to understand: when something is unfamiliar, mysterious or simply intriguing, there’s a natural temptation to look beneath the surface and figure out what’s going on.
As Trimmier writes, “When a body is mysterious, you cut it open. You peel back the skin and take stock of its guts. It is the science of an arrow, the epistemology of a list. There and here and look: You tick off organs, muscles, bones. Its belly becomes fact.”
#10
Had To Cut A Sunflower In Half Today At Work, Thought It Might Be Appreciated Here
#11
Pulled A Paper Wasp Nest From The Corner Of My Shed And It Gave Me A Perfect Cross Section
#12
Tortoise Skeleton/Shell
Sure, Trimmier was writing specifically about dissection (a squid in this case), but it’s a beautiful metaphor for our impulse to look closer at the world around us, to turn the unknown into the known and see things differently—“your eyes,” she says, “you hope, are new.”
But sometimes we don’t need to learn or understand anything from an object laid open in front of us to find it deeply satisfying. It can certainly be demystifying, but sometimes the appeal is more visual: the clean cut, the symmetry, the neat arrangement of layers previously hidden. Just think of slicing into a cake and revealing perfectly even layers of sponge and icing. You don’t need to know anything about baking—or even have baked it yourself—to appreciate how pleasing that can be to look at.
#13
Rattlesnake Rattle [500×375]
#14
What Happens When A Sphere Of Aluminum 1cm In Diameter Hits A Block Of Aluminum At ~15,000 Mph. Space Debris Impact Research Conducted By The Esa
Anonymouse 10 hours ago
Cool to see not just the impact crater, but the transferred shock to the back side and the 'trauma' there.
#15
“Lasagna” Style Bulb Planting
It’s kind of like our fascination with knolling, the practice of arranging objects at neat right angles until a messy desk or toolbox becomes something oddly soothing to look at. We see it all the time on the grid: a runner’s race-day essentials or a photographer’s gear presented in flatlay form.
Cutting something open does the same thing, just from the inside out: it takes an object’s hidden complexity and lays it out, flat and legible, for you to admire. You don’t need to know why a baseball is layered the way it is, what that strange stuffing inside a Zippo is, or how on earth Mother Nature created something so intricately structured. Simply seeing any of it sliced clean in two is satisfying enough.
#16
Cut Banana Tree Trunks
#17
A Brand New Hd750, Ge CT Scanner ~ Coverless
#18
Cross Section Of Our Painter’s 1-Year Old Stir Stick
2WheelTravlr 6 hours ago
Look up Fordite. It's the paint chipped off the old manufacturing plant paint carts that pulled automotive bodies through paint booths back in the day.
And that’s exactly why this list is so compelling: sometimes looking really is enough. Sure, it’d be satisfying to saw through some of these ourselves—but cakes aside, that’s not always realistic, convenient, or even a good idea. Luckily, there are people out there willing to do the cutting for us, saving us the mess while giving us a peek inside.
#19
Spring Ring Jewelry Clasp
#20
Cross Section Of A Whale Rib
Virgil Blue 6 hours ago
I think we got the idea of honeycomb filled aircraft components that are strong but light from things like this.
#21
This Rock In New Zealand
#22
An Accordion Cut In Half
#23
Layers Of Sediment
keyboardtek 10 hours ago
"But the earth is only 6000 years old!" say the myopic brainwashed bible bangers.
#25
Cutaway Of A Water Heater From A Home With Hard Water
QuincyForrest 4 hours ago
This is why water heaters should be completely drained down once a year and the sacrificial anode replaced when used up. Not DIY without training -- call a plumber first.
#26
This Chair At My Local Furniture Store
QuincyForrest 4 hours ago
That's a neat way to show what you'll be getting when you pay for it. Also, a display of the engineering and workmanship quality.
#28
Cactus Cut In Half: Not What I Expected
Virgil Blue 6 hours ago
So a wood like core supporting a spongy mass that can absorb masses of water. Cool.
#30
A Russian Submarine
keyboardtek 11 hours ago
To think that so many things that humans travel in are extremely complex and if just one part fails, or was assembled late on a Friday when the worker is in a hurry to go home, that one breaking part can mean catastrophe.
#34
Termite Mound
David Paterson 13 hours ago
That doesn't look like the underside of the termite mound that David Attenborough stuck his head into. Must be different internals for different termite species.
#36
The Bloodwood Tree, When Cut, Bleeds A Bright Red-Colored Sap Which Looks Like Fresh Blood From A Wound. When Trees Are Only Damaged (Not Completely Chopped Down), This Sticky Blood-Like Sap Actually Seals The Cut And Heals It
#38
Baseball
Anonymouse 9 hours ago
Did you know? "Currently, before all Major League (MLB) and Minor League (MiLB) baseball games, an umpire or clubhouse attendant rubs six dozen or more balls with mud. The practice is required by MLB Rule 4.01(c), which states that all baseballs shall be "properly rubbed so that the gloss is removed"." "The most prominent brand of specially prepared mud that is sold specifically for this purpose is Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud. Although official rules do not require using specially prepared mud, and although other brands do exist, none of the other brands are well known, and the market for specially prepared mud is so small that the Blackburne brand does not generate enough revenue to pay for a single person's full-time employment."
#40
Rubber Ducky Cut In Half To Show The Bacteria! When Was The Last Time You Sanitized Your Rubber Ducky?
Tyranamar Seuss 3 hours ago
Oh, my rubber duckies and toys like this got gross. We had some that were to squirt each other with. When we would squirt algae came out. Gross!
#41
Pearls
#44
Inside A Fire Alarm Switch
#45
Inside Of A Frag Grenade
#46
Office Printer
UnclePanda 18 hours ago
I'm pretty sure we've all thought about splitting one of these in half.
#47
Rather Than Build A New Cruise Ship, Silversea Has Decided To Cut Their Current Ship In Half With “Military Precision” And Add Another 50 Feet Of Space Right In The Middle Of The Vessel. The Project Cost $100 Million And Took Over 450,000 Man Hours To Cut The 36,000 Ton Ship In Half
#48
A Cross-Section Of A Middles Ages Era Castle Latrine Shaft
#49
Cross Section Of A Headphone Plug And Jack (AKA 1/8" Or 3.5mm Phone Plug)
#50
Porcelain Toilet Base In The Plumbing Lab At George Brown College
#52
Cereus Cactus
#54
Nuclear Waste Barrel
#55
A Canelé Is A French Pastry With A Custard Center And Caramelized Crust
#57
100 Pair Telephone Cable
#60
Hms Victory Wooden Model Cross Section
#62
Canadian Pennies: Pre- And Post-1996
Elladine DesIsles 18 hours ago
This needs an empty space for Post-2012. We stopped making and using them entirely, once the cost to manufacture one exceeded its value.
#66
The Human Heart
Rick Murray 16 hours ago
This one absolutely needs a banana for scale. It's bigger than you think.
#67
Roman Well [3264×2448]
#68
Berlin Wall [864x864]
#71
This Toothpaste Tube Cut In Half
#72
Tank (Leopard 1?) Cross Section
keyboardtek 10 hours ago
There was a journalist embedded with a tank crew in one of the Gulf wars who died from a blood clot from the lack of movement being jammed in a tank all day.
#74
2 Cans Of Soup Cut Perfectly In Half
#77
A Fire Hydrant
QuincyForrest 3 hours ago
The actual valve gate for the fire hydrant is usually about ten feet or so below ground surface. The hydrant is just a support structure for the valve actuating rod and the outlet pipe for the water with hose connection ports. So when you see the Hollywood fire hydrant get smashed by a car and then erupt, that's not what would usually happen in reality. What would usually happen in reality if you smash into a fire hydrant is pretty much nothing; mainly a busted car and just a bent hydrant, maybe broke off, but almost certainly not erupting.
#78
A Tape Measure
#79
A Shoe Cut In Half
#80
Ss Bessemer - An Experimental Victorian Steamship With An Anti-Roll Passenger Cabin, 1875. [1500×1206]
Raymond Core 9 hours ago
I'm guessing it didn't work or wasn't practical/cost effective to build.
#82
Amazon Echo
Cyril Sneer 4 hours ago
Someone with a katana had clearly had enough of Alexa getting everything wrong
#84
Ibm Laptop [960x960]
#85
Outcrop Of A Coal Seam In Antarctica [xpost /R/Humanforscale][850×1290]
#86
Deck Of Cards Cut In Half [4032 X 3024] [oc]
#90
Home Of The Simpsons. 742 Evergreen Terrence, Springfield
#91
A King Crabber In Calm Water On The Bering Sea Showing Carb In The Holds
#92
1950s Era U.S. Bomb Shelter Design [1200 X 954]
keyboardtek 10 hours ago
Probably be more miserable ending one's days in that than being obliterated in a few seconds.
#94
Bucket Of Fried Chicken Cut In Half
Add New Image
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
UnclePanda 18 hours ago
Fabulous! Can we have more like these BP? An article like this is worth a dozen of MIL and bridezilla stories.
Justin Case 6 hours ago
As Classics IV would say, “Tickets torn in half. Memories in bits and pieces.”
2WheelTravlr 6 hours ago
I absolutely love cutaways. Creating engine cutaways is an absolute art form, older ones from the very early parts of the machine age are especially awesome.
UnclePanda 18 hours ago
Fabulous! Can we have more like these BP? An article like this is worth a dozen of MIL and bridezilla stories.
Justin Case 6 hours ago
As Classics IV would say, “Tickets torn in half. Memories in bits and pieces.”
2WheelTravlr 6 hours ago
I absolutely love cutaways. Creating engine cutaways is an absolute art form, older ones from the very early parts of the machine age are especially awesome.
Related on Bored Panda
