I am currently studying Ethereum all by myself, and am struggling to understand how mining and Proof of work work.
I have read many posts and books about it but still hard to understand how the process goes.
Let's say I am sending 10 Ether to you who are reading this post, using Ethereum Wallet.
I will press 'Send' button there, and I will type your wallet address (hash code) and then put amount.
Then Ethereum Wallet will show me how many of confirmations this transaction is getting like the following picture:
It usually starts with 0 of 12 confirmed, not in the picture but yeah.
So what I want to ask is
Who are giving the confirmation? Miner nodes?
If so, how? How do they know if this transaction is valid?
Miner nodes those were mining will be broadcasted if I make a transaction, and how do they know if the transaction is valid?
What I am understanding so far is each node will compare the ledgers they have, but 'what they have' is the past records, isn't it? How would they know if the transaction, which is not recorded yet, is true or valid?
And when will the transaction be recorded in a block? As soon as the transaction is confirmed by 12 miner nodes?
How is confirming transactions (by miners) related to making new blocks?
Thanks in advance.