Excel Select vs Activate

Question

What is the difference between the VBA code wb.Sheets(1).Cells.Select and wb.Sheets(1).Activate?

Answer 1

The first selects all cells on the first sheet of the workbook wb. It will fail if the sheet is not active.

The second just activates the first sheet of the workbook wb. It does not alter the selection or activecell on that sheet, and in some cases there may be no selected range or activecell (eg. if there's an object on the sheet which is currently selected).