1. Ghosts Of Balls Past

Imgur/bookfancier69

With so many everyday objects, we rarely wonder what comprises them, as we’re just so used to their presence. The game of bocce, enjoyed around the globe, has been played since the days of the Roman Empire. Its simplicity has blessed the beloved game with an extraordinarily long life.

Of course, while slinging bocce balls down the lawn, few would stop to ponder what they could potentially contain. Someone must have been throwing it a lot harder than necessary, because this bocce ball was smashed open, exposing a funny surprise inside. Rather than just being one solid ball, apparently this one was filled with old billiard balls.

2. Chamber Of Secrets

Reddit/karmicviolence

They’re little, they’re lethal, and they really should not be this pretty. Wherever you may be, we should hope that grenades are not considered among the everyday objects that you regularly come across. That being said, when opened up, they reveal a surprisingly intricate system set up inside that allows them to detonate after a delay.

A series of reactions occur inside the body of the grenade after a soldier using it removes the pin and chucks it towards his or her target. All those colorful pieces concealed within the body of this weapon allow for it not to blow your hand off before it reaches your enemy.

3. A Rotten Day On The Course

Reddit/cladop

Imagine the scenario: you’re having a fun day jaunting about at the local country club, when you happen across this foul sight lying out on the grass. It seems improbable at best, and disgusting at worst, but there’s more to this bizarre object than meets the eye at first glance.

Despite the color of the outer coating, and the bright center that looks just like a yolk, this is not an extremely rotten egg that’s been putrefied out in the sun. Take a better look at the ‘shell’ and you’ll notice how familiar the grooves look — this is actually nothing more than a golf ball that’s bust open!

4. Strike Zone

Reddit/abledanger

No, this object isn’t a relic from that ’80s sci-fi classic Tron, nor is it one of Daft Punk’s stage costumes. It’s actually a bowling ball, cracked open to reveal its shiny innards. And while it’s unlikely that you’ve had the opportunity or wherewithal to take up a sledgehammer and smash into a bowling ball, what’s inside may surprise you.

While they may look or feel like a solid chunk of marble or plastic, the interior of bowling balls is specially designed in an attempt to try and help you better score. There’s actually a mechanism planted in the heart of the bowling ball that is shaped to give it more momentum as it hurdles towards the pins.

5. Slap Happy

Reddit/ryanispiper

Let’s face it: if you were alive in the 1990s, you almost certainly didn’t pass through the decade without having experienced, let alone owned, the mixed blessing of pain and joy that is a slap bracelet. Long before the age of fidget spinners, those of us who had a hard time concentrating could just slap away at our wrists with this handy bit of jewelry.

Doing it over and over again is almost like a form of meditation — but did you ever wonder what’s actually inside those bracelets that give them their signature spring? Many of them actually contain recycled strips of discarded measuring tape. Now that you know the truth, don’t the two feel remarkably similar?

6. Buzz Off

Reddit/prnorm

Depending on what stage of development it’s in by the time you come across it, finding out that a colony of hornets has set up shop on the side of your house can range anywhere from annoying to downright terrifying. Once they’ve been (hopefully) banished, it’s time to take a look at their handiwork.

Usually made from a combination of spit, chewed-up wood pulp, or mud, hornet’s nests are a fascinating complex of geometric mazes, all designed to store food as well as to provide safe housing for the eggs, larvae, and pupae of these stinging insects. What do you think: does it fascinate you or make your skin crawl?

7. Shake, Shake, Shake

Reddit/sverdrupian

All across the Americas, various species of rattlesnakes serve as one of the most dangerous things to be mindful of when hiking in the great outdoors. But for all the fear these venomous serpents strike in us, at least they usually grant us the courtesy of giving us a warning before they attack.

Rattlesnakes get their name from the signature appendage at the end of their tails. If you’ve ever stopped to wonder what that rattle is made of, the answer is at your fingertips — quite literally. They are pieces of keratin, the same protein that makes up fingernails and hair.

8. A Great Bang-Up

Reddit/Dannythegirl

No Fourth of July or New Years celebration would be complete without the rockets’ red glare and those bombs bursting in air. Fireworks are commonly recognized as a festive part of special occasions due to the intense noise they create, however they are definitely something whose machinations we take for granted.

Carefully tucked into the different parallel grooves of this firework are plenty of balls of gunpowder, looking much the way they may have centuries ago when they were first introduced to the West from China. Those thin strips in the middle are the fuse, the difference between enjoyment and disaster

9. Creature Feature

Instagram/robin.waddell2

This initially-horrifying sight looks somewhere between a fig and one of those demogorgon creatures from the show Stranger Things. But oddly enough, you might just have this organism’s cousin gracing the rows of flowers in your garden. What’s more, those little rosy beads have likely found their way into your food.

This is actually the seed pod from a poppy flower. While it looks pretty gross close up, its seeds are frequently used in desserts, and drying them changes them from creepy goop to just ordinary everyday objects. The milky substance you can see oozing out is the basis of opiates.

10. Tap That

Reddit/TheBX

Few everyday objects could be as mundane as your friendly bathroom or kitchen sink. How many times a day do we mindlessly turn these on and off without thinking about what goes into producing that stream of water for us? The inner workings of a faucet are far more interesting than you may have realized.

This cross-section of an average tap shows us it’s far from being just a hollow funnel connected to the town’s water source. Inside of the faucet are a series of gauges and levers, all designed to help you control the speed and temperature of the water.

11. Petri Dish

Reddit/ManOfMayhem

How, you might ask, are we able to make international telephone calls? The secret lies in underwater cables that traverse the darkest depths of the planet’s ocean bottoms. And strangely enough, the inside of these unsung heroes of the communication world look absolutely exquisite, filled with all the colors of the rainbow.

It looks nothing like the industrial purpose it serves, and more like some sort of magical piece of Italian glass, or even a spectacularly dyed petri dish with some truly fabulous cultures. So next time you call your ex-pat friends, remember: it’s all thanks in part to these colorful circles!

12. Frightening Food

Reddit/bhansley

At first glance, this item is incredibly puzzling. The shape of those oblong circles and ovals look suspiciously similar to bacteria in a petri dish, or even an amoeba. But in fact, this is one of the most easily recognizable everyday objects you might find in just about anyone’s kitchen.

The biggest hint as to this object’s true identity is an elbow-shaped piece of pasta jutting out of one of those weird ovals. Unsettling as it may seem, this is just a block of macaroni and cheese, which has been baked together in a casserole. Does that crispy brown top make more sense now?

13. Baby Batteries

Reddit/d*cknuckle

This is one of those revelations hidden inside everyday objects that we never would have thought up on our own, but makes total sense in hindsight. First, the question has to be asked: if you had to guess what were the contents of a bigger, stronger battery, what would you think is inside?

It wouldn’t be too farfetched to imagine that it’s one solid unit, but as it turns out, that’s not the case. The outside of this battery is merely a case, a shell that holds inside this bunch of smaller batteries. Their power combined is what actually makes this one single battery more powerful.

14. GMWhoa

Reddit/Croixbeans

For those of you who suffer from trypophobia, you may wish to consider skipping this entirely. Cutting open a tomato and seeing that there are no seeds inside would already raise a few suspicions. But the strange shape lurking inside of this most versatile of fruits is downright baffling.

No need to adjust your screen: inside the core of this tomato is a growth that looks surprisingly reminiscent of a strawberry! No, this is not the wacky byproduct of some mad scientist’s diabolical cross-pollination experiment — it seems that the tomato just naturally grew that way. Still, it would be enough to give anyone quite the shock.

15. It Came From Outer Space

Reddit/SovreignTripod

No, this wacky object isn’t a badly-decayed slice of cheese, nor is it an experimental chef’s take on caramel brittle. This object could quite literally have come all the way from another galaxy: it’s part of the famous Fukang meteorite, which was found in the year 2000 in northwestern China.

The craziest aspect of this rare find is not just the glittering, dazzling gold sheen of the olivine crystals that make up the majority of the surface of this otherworldly specimen. As an extraterrestrial object, its age is so astounding that it’s hard to even fathom: it’s estimated to be somewhere around 4.5 billion years old!

16. Splendid Spirals

Reddit/ryansmith

If these psychedelic paisley-like spirals remind you of the long white palm hearts you might chop into your salad, you’re not far off. These are actually the insides of the stalks from a banana tree, sliced open to show their layering, which curls almost like the shell of a snail or a nautilus.

They may look plain and straightforward from the outside, but banana stems have a series of beautiful whorls inside them. While they are not edible, you might be surprised to learn that another part of the plant — the giant purple blossom of the tree itself — can actually be cooked too!

17. Out Of Order

Reddit/BackCountryBrian

This most humble of everyday objects needs no introduction, and for your own sake, let’s just hope you don’t come across a toilet looking like this when you’re in dire need of one. The porcelain throne has been sliced open so you can have a gander at its inner workings.

One of the best parts of seeing everyday objects from the inside is that they allow us to gain a better appreciation of the ingenious inventions that have allowed to us to enjoy the comforts of modern society. We’d just like to take a moment to give a shout out to all the plumbers out there!

18. Secret Suite

Reddit/Flashway1

Strolling down the center of what looks like a grand ballroom, we’d imagine hearing the pleasing echo of clacking shoes on polished solid wood floor, reverberating off the undulating curves of its walls, and that proud map of Texas in the middle. Except, for this scenario to be real, you would probably have to be the size of a mouse.

What look like elegant corridors here are actually the inside of a guitar! The photograph was taken deep inside the belly of the instrument, as you can’t see the strings up above. It just goes to show how some careful camera lighting and a shifted perspective can really change how we view the everyday objects that surround us.

19. Flame Wars

Reddit/socsa

There’s something so empowering about using one of these giant multi-purpose lighters. It’s like the missing link between your everyday disposable lighter and, say, a flamethrower. But if you open up this bad boy, you might just get a little disappointed. There’s a lot less mystique to it than you may have thought.

If you ever wondered what miracles of modern engineering facilitate the tongue of flame ignited when you press the button on this long lighter, the answer is rather underwhelming. Lo and behold, hidden inside this weapon of kitchen wars is just another, smaller lighter, dressed up in fancy clothes. What a bummer!

20. Layer Cake

Reddit/pacgaming

What’s this person holding? It seems so similar to a multilayered cake, with different levels containing crumbled Oreos, vanilla, and perhaps some slivers of nuts. And yet, this is no food product, but something so commonly found, you would be hard-pressed to go a day without encountering it. Here’s a hint: chances are, you’ve stepped on it.

Believe it or not, this is actually what pavement from a sidewalk looks like! From this slice of a road, you can see the various layers that go into creating that surfaces that we all casually stroll across day in, day out. In some older cities and towns, you might even find a layer of cobblestone at the bottom, where an original street once stood.

21. Expensive And Bizarre

Pixabay

The object that’s been sliced in two here can’t necessarily be described as something you would just find lying around the house — that is, unless you’ve got quite the budget. At first glance, it looks like the cross-section of some badly-decayed internal organ, or even a strange kind of rock.

But finding just one of these can fetch you a handsome sum. This is a truffle mushroom, carefully halved. There are several varieties of edible truffle mushrooms, all regarded as a delicacy and rather hard to come by, but the one depicted here hails from the Périgord region of France, where you can be sure it’s being used in the finest of culinary delights.

22. Open The Pod Bay Doors

Reddit/ThePunk28

The few, the bold, the proud: those rare individuals who still drink drip coffee! Take a gander around any given office or other workspace today, and chances are, you’ll see an espresso machine complete with a colorful assortment of Keurig pods that you can brew as strong and tall as desired.

This little baggie is what holds that precious, precious concentrated brew of coffee together; it’s not just sitting there inside the plastic. So if you’ve ever wondered what sort of magic is going on with these handy capsules as they are being drained and turned into liquid joy inside the machine, now you know!

23. Skip To My Loo

Reddit/crota2

Just think of all the different uses we have for rope. Whether it’s for hauling shipped goods or the simple act of skipping Double Dutch with friends on the schoolyard, they’re so common that we hardly notice them wherever they may be. But inside many ropes is a secret.

Here’s a little-known, decently head-scratching, yet wonderful tidbit of knowledge you likely didn’t know and even more likely didn’t need to know: many ropes are threaded tightly around an internal filler, which is often made from recycled diapers. Sometimes, we’re just so much better off not discovering the mystery behind the innards of everyday objects.

24. Minted Chocolate

Reddit/IReadItOnReddit69

Chances are, you’ve probably seen or even had the pleasure of enjoying one of those gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins often found in candy stores and around the holiday season, especially on Hanukkah. And sure, there are plenty of chocolate coins in silver wrapping — but the quarter pictured here is far from edible.

This is the real deal: just an average, everyday United States quarter coin, carefully and dexterously peeled open to reveal the layers of different metals that go into creating just one. While the outside may have a metallic sheen, the inside is a layer of copper, just like a penny. Well, if we had a quarter everytime we saw that…

25. Don’t Look A Gift Horse In The…

Reddit/SkyeAuroline

When it comes to mass-producing everyday objects, we’re all in favor of being creative and recycling spare parts — especially if the buyer will never be able to tell what you’ve done! Of course, cleverly hiding those recycled bits is part of the craft. But the toy makers of the plastic horse here just might have missed the mark.

The idea of using an excess doll part to make the tail of this toy horse must have seemed logical when they did it, but they probably weren’t counting on the fact that as much as young children love to play with their toys, they also love finding creative ways to open them up and have a look inside.

Sources: Reddit/Things Cut In Half, Buzzfeed