OtterKnow Kids Encyclopedia

Think of the internet like a mail system. When you want to see a website, your computer sends a message asking for it. That message travels through wires and cables to a special computer called a server. The server finds what you asked for and sends it back to your computer super fast! The information travels through long cables, and some of those cables even go under the ocean to connect different countries.

• The internet connects over 5 billion people around the world.
• The very first internet message was sent in 1969. It was supposed to say “login,” but the computer crashed after just two letters: L and O!
• Cables that carry internet signals stretch across the bottom of the ocean. If you put them all together, they could wrap around the Earth more than 35 times!
• Information on the internet can travel almost as fast as light.