Binary search is much faster than linear search because they use different ways to find items in a list.

Linear Search
With linear search, you look at each item one by one. This means, if the item you want is at the very end of the list or not in the list at all, you have to check every single item until you find it or run out of options.

This makes linear search pretty slow for big lists. We say its time complexity is $O(n)$, where $n$ is the number of items in the list. So, as the list gets bigger, linear search takes more time.

Binary Search
On the other hand, binary search works only if the list is sorted. Instead of checking each item, it cuts the list in half each time it checks. Here’s how binary search works:

1. First Step: Look at the item in the middle of the sorted list.
2. Check:
   • If the middle item is what you’re looking for, you’re done!
   • If the item you want is smaller, focus on the left half of the list.
   • If it’s bigger, look at the right half.
3. Repeat: Keep doing this until you find what you need or have no more items to check.

This makes binary search much faster, with a time complexity of $O(\log n)$. This means, even when the list gets bigger, the number of checks doesn’t increase as much as with linear search.

In Summary
Binary search is much better for working with large lists. Its ability to cut the search area in half each time is why it is popular in computer science, especially when dealing with sorted data. While both types of searching have their uses, binary search is key for speeding up searching tasks.