How does the internet work?

The internet - How does it work?

• So I watched this episode of Southpark when the ppl don't have internet and then I started thinking how does internet work? I mean I know it's data transfered somehow through a net of information but where is that data storaged and sent from? If all of the routers\comps in the world suddenly shut down and no one will have any internet, will the data on it be saved and could it be recovered quickly? Also how does the data in the internet go around? By wires? By invisable waves in the air? Where is the internet sent from in the beginning? Thanks for reading, please explain this stuff :)

• Answer:

  Well thats a big question. There are servers, computers that hold data, that allow incoming connectons, which let people interact with the software on those servers. Yahoo has many such servers. The internet has no centralized location. Its a bunch of nodes linked together, who have willingly agreed to followed a set of standards for compatibility. The ultimate result being what you see today. every computer has a unique internet protocol address. When you type "Yahoo" youre actually connecting to "http://209.191.122.70/" That is where the information is coming from, the server with that address. The internet is linked by fiberoptic cables, a large number of which lay across the ocean floor, connecting the continents. Its also transferred by satellite, infrared.. And the uses are vast. You can come on here, and talk to people. You're on the internet when you're using the Pokemon Global Link..The internet also can't really go down. It, infact, has never once gone down, and is the longest continually operating machine in humanity's history. It does not contain information in a single place. If one of those undersea wires gets cut, even then you dont usually lose access fully. Yahoo actually has many servers, all of which have identical content. If one fails, it sends you to another. The information is backed up continuously to other computers who are built for that purpose. So the data cant be lost, short of a cataclysmic level of destruction.