How does technology work at its base level? Is it magic? Does a really small elf live in my monitor? Are there gnomes in the router? Stranger; we electrocute strange rocks until they do math.
Alternating current
How do we generate electricity anyway? Every current method of electricity generation (except for solar panels) involves spinning a big magnet around a copper coil. The electrons in the copper respond by moving back and forth according to where the magnet is. This movement powers things like lightbulbs, ovens, industrial machinery, nearly anything that you can plug into a wall outlet. AC goes from 120 volts to -120 volts many times per second. Neat, but computers require a more stable flow of electricity, which is why we have to turn it into Direct Current.
Direct current
DC only flows in one direction. This is achieved by using a "choke", a component that doesn't allow the voltage to go in the opposite direction. In other words, You can go from 120 volts to 0, but not all the way down to -120 volts. Computers are able to harness this by having an increase in voltage be an "on" and a decrease in voltage be an "off". 1's and 0's. These are referred to as bits, and those on and off conditions are what the computer uses to calculate things.