Gas

Gas is a unit of computational effort required to execute operations or transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, often analogized to the "fuel" that powers the network. Every action, from sending Ether to interacting with a smart contract or deploying a decentralized application (DApp), consumes a certain amount of gas. This mechanism serves a dual purpose: it prevents infinite loops in code and incentivizes network validators (miners or stakers in Proof-of-Stake) by compensating them for the computational resources they expend to process and verify transactions.