Book 3, Question 77
Why Does Email Arrive So Fast?
Email is a letter that has been chopped into tiny digital packets. Those packets race through cables and radio links at nearly the speed of light! There's no paper, no truck, and no stamp-licking.
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 3
More fun facts
- An email usually arrives just seconds after it is sent.
- Emails can be sent at any time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- Unlike a paper letter, one email can be sent to many people at no extra cost.
- If an email you expect does not show up, it may have landed in the junk folder.
- When scientists studied 16 billion emails, a computer model could guess which reply would be the last one in a thread about 66 percent of the time.
Sources: BBC, BBC, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
Why might an email not arrive?
It may have gone to the junk or spam folder, so that is a good place to check first.