I am a total noob to Linux. Where do I start,which version do I download. I installed a second HD on my computer and will install and run Linux from it. My primary HD runs Windows. My main purpose as of now for installing Linux is so I can download and run Linux based apps. Please keep it simple as I probably will not understand "your" technical jargon just yet

If you are new to Linux I would recommend one of the more beginner friendly distributions, like Linux Mint, simplyMepis, PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu.
Just start with using it to get familiar with one of the GUIs, if you want to use the commandline you may want read this.
Also please read Linux is not Windows.

I dont know why people recommend ubuntu or the other 'easy' distros without knowing what hardware the user has.

Well, thats sort of a lie, I can see why people do but IMO its counterproductive- give someone jockey-gtk (for the OP- this is the ubuntu and mint 'hardware driver install' GUI) and then when/if they move to a distro where you need to use command line its more difficult than if they learnt with a 'harder' distro to begin with.

Not that its that hard to install the nVidia/ATI/AMD GPU drivers, or a lot of the wireless network drivers with any of the major distros....

If you do go with a 'beginner friendly distro' I'd avoid ubuntu 11.04, due to the 'unity' desktop. I'd also avoid anything that uses gnome 2.X. Not that gnome is bad, but gnome 2.X is at the end of its life. If you get used to gnome 2.X now, you could find it difficult to keep using gnome 2.X in the future.

Better of getting a distro that uses Xfce, Lxde, KDE or even fluxbox/openbox.

I'd recommend Mint or Fedora.

I tried Ubuntu and I totally hate its Unity interface, but you can try it if you want. If you hate it, don't let it discourage you from Linux. You can install a different desktop or choose another distro.