Answer 1

You can think of instance of as a comparison operator in which it compares object Types (including its parent Types).
Object Type == Object Type
class Animal {}
class Dog extends Animal {}
Animal a = new Animal();
Dog d = new Dog();
if(a instanceof Animal) // true
System.out.println("a is an Animal");
if(d instanceof Dog) // true
System.out.println("d is a Dog");
if(d instanceof Animal) // true
System.out.println("d is also an Animal");
if(a instanceof Dog) // false
System.out.println("a is not a Dog");
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/op2.html