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Every time I have flown and sat in a window seat, I have noticed this small tube at the base of the window.

Window

It looks like it might be either metal or a small air pocket, but I'm not sure. I've been seeing it for years and always wondered what it is.

What is this "tube" embedded into airline windows, and does it have any purpose?

Notts90
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Timpanus
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    It's a hole in the middle of the three window panes to equalise pressure in the gaps between the planes. – Notts90 Feb 12 '17 at 14:42

1 Answers1

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As pressurized aircraft's windows exist of several layers (usually three) there's this little hole to compensate differences in the pressure between inside and outside the aircraft. Inside the aircraft the pressure is much higher than outside so without this little hole the windowd layers would be pushed together and break.

pcfreakxx
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    "without this little hole the window layers would be pushed together and break": Do you mean pushed in the same outside direction? If so why would they break? They are supposed to be able to individually bear the full pressure differential. – mins Feb 13 '17 at 07:00