Is there a way to determine the current balance of a bitcoin address by looking at the block chain stored on the computer?  I know I can go to a website and check, but I was wondering if there was a command or something in the bitcoin software to do the same thing.  Thanks!

Thanks Danny!

Thanks guys!

What prevents someone from copying a wallet and having twice as many bitcoins?

I found this in the bitcoin whitepaper:

http://www.techinasia.com/techinasia/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/bitcoin-transaction.jpg

Can someone please explain to me what's happening here?

Hello,

I am doing a school project on bitcoin and I need help with some of the technical aspects of it.

First of all, what happens exactly in a bitcoin transaction?  I know public key crypto is involved, but I'm not sure how bitcoins are transferred from person A to person B.

What happens when I send money from my wallet to someone else's wallet?  Say I send 10 bitcoins.  Are 10 bitcoins subtracted from my wallet and added to someone else's wallet?

Thanks,

DV