aka...science room
How many emails did you get today?
Even if you have no friends you can still receive dozens a day by subscribing to services such as word of the day, fun fact of the day, person of the day, quote of the day, recipe of the day, joke of the day, CD of the day…
But how do emails get to you?
All you need is a piece of software called an email client and a connection to an email server.
An email client allows you to create, send and read emails. Common examples are Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Pegasus. Hotmail and Yahoo are internet based email clients that you access using a webpage.
An email server is a computer that holds a list of email accounts and stores the email for each account in a text file.
When you send a message, the email client tells the email server the name of the recipient, the name of the sender and the message itself. The server saves this information in the text file of the recipient’s account. As other people send emails, the new information is added to the text file.
When you check your email, the email client connects to the email server and asks it to send a copy of the text file to the computer you are using. The email client then shows you the emails held in your account as a list and allows you to read them just by double clicking on them.
In practice, email systems are slightly more complicated and use two email servers on the same computer. The SMTP, or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, server handles outgoing email and the POP3, or Post Office Protocol 3, server handles incoming email.
Email clients also have all sorts of bells and whistles that allow you to customise your emails and file them just the way you like. They may even help you make some friends, well penpals at least.
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