Internet:

The internet is a network of thousands of computers and devices around the world connected by copper wires, fibre optics, wireless, connections and other methods.

How does the internet work?:

1-. Users can connect  to the Internet service provider (ISP) and pay a set free. When we switch on a computer and connect to the Internet, our ISP (for example, Movistar, Jazztel, Ono, etc.) assigns an address to our computer, called an IP adress. Every computer is assigned a unique address on the Internet.

2-. A router is a device that lets us connect to the Internet. Once connected, we open our browser and type the address of a page in it (URL). At this point, information starts to travel in the form of packets. The information sent out is the request or address of the web page that we want to visit and the information that we want to visit and the information that is sent back is the content of the web page.

Each web page is also assigned an IP. This way, we can identify the origin and destination  of the flow of information.

3-. The next step in the information´s journey are the DNS. It would be very difficult to remember the IP address of every website that we could connect with. DNS servers simplify this task for us. DNS stands for domain name system and these servers assigns names to telephone numbers so that numbers so that we do not have to remember them all.

For example, if we type the IP .233.189.104 in our browser, we are connected to the Google home page, which is the same as typing in ´´https://www.google.es´´.

4-. Our computer communicates with other computers following a common set of rules called a protocol.

• The packets of information follow the TCP/IP protocol (transfer control protocol/Internet protocol).
• Servers use the HTTP protocol (hypertext transfer protocol) to send and receive documents over the Internet.

5-. The DNS server sends the request to the server that hosts the web page we want to visit. The server sends us the information packets that make up the web page, which travel over the network along the quickest path that they can find. 

6-. Finally, the packets reach our computer and are reassembled . The page is then displayed in our browser.