How Does a Telephone Work?

1. Telephones combine electricity and acoustics. Acoustics is a fancy word for sound--any kind of sound, including your voice.
2. Telephones have two basic parts. One is the handset, the piece of the phone that transmits and receives the sound. That's the piece for speaking into and listening. The second basic part is the base. Some telephones come with the handset separate from the base; others, including cordless models, have both the handset and the base (buttons) on one piece.
3. Your telephone line is connected to your local company. Your local company knows who else in your community has telephones. When you dial a local number, the local company knows whose house that wire belongs to and automatically sends your call through the appropriate wires and to that house. In order to make a long-distance call, you must first dial a 1 and then the area code. Your local company recognizes that this means long distance and will switch to a long-distance wire. When it receives the area code, it can send your information to the correct local company of that area code. Generations ago, information was sent by hand with operators and switches. With the advancement of technology, it is now done automatically with fiberoptics and databases.
4. The only way telephones work is by using well-insulated electrical wires. The insulation keeps the sound from escaping before it reaches it's final destination (the person you called). Sound can travel through through other things, but it cannot travel far before it is absorbed into the material it is traveling through. That's why the acoustics must work together with the electricity. Using insulated electrical wires will allow your voice to travel locally and travel long distances.