When the core comes out of the ground it looks just like a big, giant drinking straw full of modeling clay!  We use a plastic tube to hold the core and it’s called a liner because it lines the inside of the drill pipe.

The scientists need to see what is inside the core so they have to be cut in half.  If the core is soft like clay, we use the soft rock splitter.  It pulls a wire through the core and cuts it in half.  If the core is hardened into a rock we have to use a big saw that cuts the core in half.

Once the core is split then the scientists can take their samples.