Packets, routers and IP addresses The Internet is a packet switched network, that is, when data is transmitted it is broken into chunks, called packets, and transmitted through the network by routers which send the packets to their destinations using IP addresses.

1. What is the
internet?
The internet
was original ly
cal led the
“In te rn etwo rk ”
, known for
connecting
lots of
di f ferent
networks and
mi l l ions of
smal l
computers.
THE INTERNET

2. THE INTERNET – COMMON
MISINTERPRETATIONS
T h e i nte r net…
…d o e s n ’ t j u s t b e l o n g to o n e p e r s o n- due to the mass amount of
separate networks and fi les uploaded
by so many dif ferent people.
Somebody has made these networks,
then put them onto the internet to
share with other people.
…i s n’ t t h e s ame t h i ng a s t h e Wo rl d
Wide Web, the world wide web is
par t of the internet, and this is the
most commonly used par t for me and you.
…i s n ’ t j u s t ma d e u p o f we b pag e s , i t a l s o i n c l u de s
things l ike email and forums, which we probably
use at least one of these a day without thinking
deeper into what they actually are.

3. DOMAIN NAMES
A domain name is the name which is given to a website or a
type of resource l ikewise. This name has to be unique and has
to b e p a i d fo r. Fo r example, i f yo u p u rc h ase ‘ . c om’ , yo u h ave to
renew it every two years or else it becomes avai lable
for any other person to claim or use it.
Some famous ones can be sold for mi l lions of pounds, to
companies wanting to use that name. there are many dif ferent
‘ to p l evel d oma i ns ’ , s u c h a s ‘ . o rg ’ a nd ‘ . c o . u k ’ . I f yo u c h o o s e a
good domain name, it is essential in the flourishing of your
business if you want it to go far.

4. DATA PACKETS
 Data packets are pieces of data broken up into smal ler
chunks, so they are easier to transmit.
 Say you send a fi le to one of your col leagues in a di f ferent
country, the fi le has to be broken up into these smal l
‘ p a c kets ’ . I t i s g i ve n t h e I P a d d re s s o f i t s d e s t in a tio n , a n d t h e
IP address of the place it is being sent from. The packets al l
leave your computer to travel to their destination, as each of
them know the IP address. They arrive at the destination, and
get back into per fect order, as they
were al l given a set number in the
previous stages.
I t makes ef ficient use of the network,
but some can get lost and can take time.

5. ROUTERS
 Routers transfer data from one network to another. These
routers transpor t the data packets, see here.
 They contain micro-computers, which have a l ist of al l
connected networks in its memory, ready to send, and they
also know how busy each path is.
When a packet arrives, it checks the IP address, then
finds the least busy route and sends it that way.

6. REFERENCES
 Teach ICT was a very helpful website in completing this task,
as the information was very useful, helpful, and easy to
digest. www.teach- ict.com
 I used Google Images for finding relevant images to the
topics.
 Kids Website Creator helped define some of the key words
and I was able to understand wel l - kidswebsitecreator.com
These are the resources that I used