How Does Invention of the Telegraph Work?

The telegraph lets people send messages over long distances using electric signals and a special kind of code.

Imagine you have a friend who lives far away, like across town. You both have a set of flashlights. When you want to say something, you flash your light in short or long bursts, like Morse Code. Your friend sees the flashes and knows what you're saying. That’s how the telegraph works, but instead of flashlights, it uses electricity that travels through wires.

The telegraph uses a special code called Morse Code, which turns letters into short or long signals, like dots and dashes. A person types a message on a machine, and it sends an electric signal down a wire to another machine far away. The machine there listens for the signals and changes them back into letters.

It’s like sending messages by tapping on a table, fast taps are one letter, slow taps are another. The telegraph does this but with electricity, making it much faster than writing letters by hand.