What is Amazon EC2 and how does it work?

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It allows users to access virtual servers, known as instances, within the AWS infrastructure. EC2 instances function similarly to physical computers but are delivered virtually. Users can choose the instance type, operating system, and other configurations, enabling them to customize their computing environment. EC2 works by provisioning instances with the required amount of CPU, memory, storage, and network resources needed to run applications and manage workloads. Users can launch, start, stop, and terminate instances as needed, allowing for flexibility in managing computing resources. EC2 also offers features like load balancing, auto-scaling, and high availability, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, from basic web servers to complex, distributed systems.