Program Information

NASA Kids Science News segment explaining how email works.

NASA Kids Science News Network™ is a news-style standards-based program that uses the Web, animation, and video to introduce science, technology, engineering, math, and NASA concepts. NASA's KSNN™ uses animated characters (grades K-2) and Web and video technology (grades 3-5) to explain everyday phenomena of our world, correct misconceptions, and answer frequently asked questions.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Hannah with more
computer news you can use.

How does email work?

It is cool to send
an email letter
to my aunt
in another city,
but I have no idea
how it works.

(Hannah)
In its simplest form,
email is just a message
sent between two computers.

Your computer needs
another computer called a server
to send and receive your email.

(Zola)
That sounds a lot like taking
a letter to a post office.

It is; it's just done
electronically with a computer.

Once your email letter gets
to the destination server,
your aunt can retrieve and read
your letter on her computer.

I love knowing
I can write to her
as fast as I can
talk to you.

By the way, what's with the dots
and letters in an email address?

(Hannah)
To learn more about email,
check out our website.

Until next time, I'm Hannah with
cool computer news you can use.

Virginia Standards