J.R. here! I thought that today we would take a look at what the drilling crew uses to collect the seafloor samples. A 10 meter long, piece of clear plastic tube is sent down inside the drill string to the bottom of the hole. The sediments get pushed up into the tube and then it is pulled all the way back up to the shouts of "Core on deck!" The plastic tube is 7 cm in diameter (see photo). After it is cut into smaller sections, each 1.5 meters in length, a blue plastic cap is placed on the end to indicate the top direction and a clear cap is placed on the bottom. This is done so as the cores get moved around the ship, the scientists always know which end was at the top. Think about why a blue cap is used and then send me your comments.