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.
#1 Cross Section Of Cables
Image source: HairySquid68
#2 Firework Shell
Image source: Dannythegirl
#3 This Rock In New Zealand
Image source: Cropitekus
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 Elephant’s Foot
Image source: sverdrupian
#5 Beautiful Fukang Meteorite
Image source: kikootwo
#6 A Brand New Hd750, Ge CT Scanner ~ Coverless
Image source: anon
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 Range Rover
Image source: TwiceBakedProduction
#8 Zippo Lighter
Image source: anon
#9 A Bowling Ball
Image source: anon
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 Cross Section Of A Headphone Plug And Jack (AKA 1/8″ Or 3.5mm Phone Plug)
Image source: ris8_allo_zen0
#11 The Alvord Meteorite, Found On An Iowa Farm In 1976, Iron Octahedrite Weighing 38.5 Lbs/17.5 Kg, About 18″/45.7cm Across
Image source: jaykirsch
#12 Cross Section Of A Whale Rib
Image source: fjbruzr
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 Nautilus Shell Cut In Half. The Chambers Are Clearly Visible And Arranged In A Logarithmic Spiral
Image source: bigmeat
#14 Termite Mound
Image source: 7LeagueBoots
#15 Rattlesnake Rattle [500×375]
Image source: sverdrupian
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 Pulled A Paper Wasp Nest From The Corner Of My Shed And It Gave Me A Perfect Cross Section
Image source: bezododo
#17 Tortoise Skeleton/Shell
Image source: fubbleskag
#18 An Accordion Cut In Half
Image source: Wolfdijon
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 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
Image source: AmericanActionHero
#20 This Jawbreaker Nearly Perfectly Broken In Half
Image source: Raikoh067
#21 Cross Section Of Our Painter’s 1-Year Old Stir Stick
Image source: infernal2ss
#22 Spring Ring Jewelry Clasp
Image source: persistentlyfluffy
#23 Rubber Ducky Cut In Half To Show The Bacteria! When Was The Last Time You Sanitized Your Rubber Ducky?
Image source: anon
#24 Fancy Donut Cake Cut In Half
Image source: Leonard_Potato
#25 This Chair At My Local Furniture Store
Image source: oneyozfest182
#26 Pearls
Image source: anon
#27 Mammoth Tusk Cross Section
Image source: BetaKeyTakeaway
#28 Poppy Capsule
Image source: Provincial Archiv
#29 Pine Cone
Image source: Cropitekus
#30 Friend Said I Should Put This Here: Peony Bud
Image source: dapeetree
#31 Had To Cut A Sunflower In Half Today At Work, Thought It Might Be Appreciated Here
Image source: Charissh
#32 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
Image source: KimCureAll
#33 Cactus Cut In Half: Not What I Expected
Image source: theanti_influencer75
#34 Inside Of A Frag Grenade
Image source: EnigmaEcstacy
#35 “Lasagna” Style Bulb Planting
Image source: commoninja352
#36 Tree Fern Cross Section
Image source: RyanSmith
#37 The Human Heart
Image source: Neutrahl
#38 Office Printer
Image source: theearthvolta
#39 2 Cans Of Soup Cut Perfectly In Half
Image source: RhinoMan2112
#40 Geode
#41 Ibm Laptop [960×960]
Image source: tet5uo
#42 A Mature Hedge (Photo: Paul Debois)
Image source: sverdrupian
#43 100 Pair Telephone Cable
Image source: ShaggysGTI
#44 Layers Of Sediment
Image source: Cropitekus
#45 A Cross-Section Of A Middles Ages Era Castle Latrine Shaft
Image source: Whey-Men
#46 Geologist Cut Rock In Half, Found The Cookie Monster
Image source: A_Pluto_Shaped_Pool
#47 A Russian Submarine
Image source: anon
#48 Jet Engine
Image source: AlfvanBeem
#49 Paint Waste Drain
Image source: btsclan
#50 Cutaway Of A Water Heater From A Home With Hard Water
Image source: -ksguy-
#51 Porcelain Toilet Base In The Plumbing Lab At George Brown College
Image source: anon
#52 Gameboy Games Cut In Half! (Inspired By An Eli5 Post)
Image source: bendale
#53 Inside A Fire Alarm Switch
Image source: Michael_Scofield91
#54 Cut Banana Tree Trunks
Image source: RyanSmith
#55 Hms Victory Wooden Model Cross Section
Image source: youngsyr
#56 A Lock
#57 Nuclear Waste Barrel
Image source: sparky4
#58 Cargo Ship
#59 Baseball
#60 This Stalactite Cut In Half
Image source: SteelyGlint009
#61 Model Of A 17th Century English Merchantman Ship
Image source: eratropicoil
#62 Cut-Away Of A Boiler In A Steam Locomotive. National Railway Museum
Image source: anon
#63 Baseball
Image source: Roger Smith
#64 Canadian Pennies: Pre- And Post-1996
Image source: sverdrupian
#65 This Toothpaste Tube Cut In Half
Image source: White_Shade
#66 A Visa Credit Card
Image source: iiiicpdiiii
#67 A Fire Hydrant
Image source: Waterjet Channel – Daniel Adair
#68 Amazon Echo
Image source: Fixedsit
#69 Three Light Bulb Generations
Image source: Pipinpadiloxacopolis
#70 A Tape Measure
Image source: Waterjet Channel
#71 A Cup Of Noodles
Image source: unreqistered
#72 A Shoe Cut In Half
Image source: dexusnl
#73 Bucket Of Fried Chicken Cut In Half
Image source: jaykirsch
#74 Kiwano Melon Cut In Half
Image source: RyanSmith
#75 Cereus Cactus
Image source: Tangopaso
#76 Artichoke
Image source: tedd4u
#77 A King Crabber In Calm Water On The Bering Sea Showing Carb In The Holds
Image source: Due-Understanding871
#78 Camera Lens Cutaway
Image source: StephenMcGannon
#79 Tank (Leopard 1?) Cross Section
Image source: guetzli
#80 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
Image source: omarpower123
#81 Golden Gate Bridge Cable – 27,572 Cables Bundled Together
Image source: sonalperera
#82 Wasp Nest
Image source: sverdrupian
#83 The “Love Boat” In LEGO
Image source: Whey-Men
#84 Pepper Mill [736×968]
Image source: Cropitekus
#85 A Canelé Is A French Pastry With A Custard Center And Caramelized Crust
Image source: sverdrupian
#86 Lime
Image source: CanadianGreg1
#87 Home Of The Simpsons. 742 Evergreen Terrence, Springfield
Image source: eddyeuan
#88 Cross-Section Of $277m U.S. Navy Minesweeper Being Dismantled And Hauled Away
Image source: Antitypical
#89 Roman Well [3264×2448]
Image source: Cropitekus
#90 Outcrop Of A Coal Seam In Antarctica [xpost /R/Humanforscale][850×1290]
Image source: sverdrupian
#91 Deck Of Cards Cut In Half [4032 X 3024] [oc]
Image source: jglenn1562
#92 Berlin Wall [864×864]
Image source: Cropitekus
#93 1950s Era U.S. Bomb Shelter Design [1200 X 954]
Image source: Whey-Men
#94 Ss Bessemer – An Experimental Victorian Steamship With An Anti-Roll Passenger Cabin, 1875. [1500×1206]
Image source: sverdrupian
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