What is the purpose of Web applications in Sharepoint 2010?

What is the purpose of Web applications in Sharepoint 2010?

- Web applications are the application that executes on any browser. These applications provide an interface for the user actions to be taken.

- It is a top-level container in Sharepoint 2010 farm that allows the user interaction to take place.

- It is used to provide the mappings with associated components and set the URLs that are being defined through the central management console.

- The web application allows automatic replication to be done in the IIS configuration system that is being done after the server configuration.

- Web applications are independent from each other and they just interact when there is a requirement. They have their own pools and can be shut down and restart automatically.