What is internal?

Internal means something is inside a thing, not on the outside.

Imagine you have a toy box. The toys that are inside the box are internal to the box. You can’t see them unless you open the lid. The lid itself, or the color of the box, are things you can see from the outside, they’re external.

Think of a cookie wrapped in foil. The cookie is internal to the wrapper, it’s inside. You have to unwrap the foil to get to it. The foil is external because you can see and touch it right away.

What's Inside Your Body?

Your body is like a big box too! Everything that's inside your body, like your heart, your stomach, or even your brain, are all internal parts. They’re working hard inside you, you don’t see them unless you look really closely, like in a special picture or video.

So when something is internal, it’s hidden, inside, and needs to be opened up or looked at closely to see it! Internal means something is inside a thing, not on the outside.

Imagine you have a toy box. The toys that are inside the box are internal to the box. You can’t see them unless you open the lid. The lid itself, or the color of the box, are things you can see from the outside, they’re external.

Think of a cookie wrapped in foil. The cookie is internal to the wrapper, it’s inside. You have to unwrap the foil to get to it. The foil is external because you can see and touch it right away.

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Examples

  1. A child feels happy inside even though they're crying outside.
  2. You know you're tired because your body tells you so.
  3. Sometimes, you feel sad even when everyone around you is laughing.

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Categories: Physics · internal· philosophy· science