- Lately, I've been hearing a lot of adults ask,
"How does this internet work?"
Come on, it's easy, I'm nine and I know how it works.
So today, I'm going to do all of you a favor
and make it super easy for you to understand
how the internet works.
(upbeat music)
It all started in 1962, when an MIT and ARPA scientist
J.C.R. Licklider thought of a new way
to communicate between government agencies
without using the telecommunication lines
that were thought to be vulnerable to a Soviet attack.
After the government's success with their own internal
communication networks, Tim Berners-Lee
created the worldwide web in 1991.
This invention allowed the web
to be a place that held information.
The internet is comprised of multiple networks
that contain billions of computers.
All locations on the internet have three identifications,
an IP address, a domain name, and an ethernet address.
The IP or Internet Protocol address
is a unique number given to every device that allows us
to identify it, kinda like your street address.
When you use the internet, your IP address is sharing
data packets with other IP addresses.
The rules utilized to send this information across
the internet are called protocols.
These protocols determine how information with travel
and which routers or switches they will use
to get to their destination.
Routers and switches are devices that direct
information to and from your computer.
If you want information, images, or videos that are large,
the files will be broken down
into hundreds or thousands of packets.
Each packet includes the IP address of the web server
that information is stored on and the IP address
of the computer it's traveling to.
Routers look for the quickest path for each packet.
This may cause packets to take different paths
even though they're all a part of the same file.
When the packet arrives at its destination,
it has instructions on how to reassemble
as the original file.
The packet travels throughout the world, through fiber-optic
cables on the ocean floor or through satellites.
It usually takes less than a second
to complete this process.
Because satellites move, space debris can interfere
with the delivery of packet data.
Many companies such as SpaceX and Facebook
have plans to deploy mini satellites
to provide internet access to even remote areas.
A system of underwater fiber-optic cables
carry data internationally too.
As of 2015, Telegeography reported
that there were 299 cables.
If you wound up all them, you could hold it in your hand.
They're sometimes called submarine cables.
Some are buried as deep as Mount Everest is high,
while others are found in water so shallow,
sometimes shark bite through them.
Data can be sent over the internet via physical wires
or a wireless connection, Wi-Fi.
The frequency of Wi-Fi is 2.4 gigahertz or five gigahertz.
Wi-Fi can broadcast on either frequency and most routers
will automatically switch to the best option.
Now, let me leave you with you bigger questions
to really mess your brain up.
Who runs the internet?
Just how big can it get?
When will we cease to exist in real life
and simply become one with the internet?