Blink LED with Arduino

Blinking an LED is the simplest way to get started with Arduino. This tutorial will guide you through connecting an LED to an Arduino board and writing a simple program to make it blink.

Materials Needed

Arduino board (e.g., Arduino Uno)
LED
220-ohm resistor
Breadboard
Jumper wires
USB cable

Circuit Setup

Insert the LED into the breadboard. The longer leg (anode) is the positive terminal, and the shorter leg (cathode) is the negative terminal.

Connect a 220-ohm resistor to the cathode leg of the LED and then to the ground (GND) pin on the Arduino.
Connect the anode leg of the LED to digital pin 13 on the Arduino.

Writing the Code

Open the Arduino IDE on your computer.
Create a new sketch and paste the following code:

void setup() {
    pinMode(13, OUTPUT); // Set pin 13 as an output
}
void loop() {
    digitalWrite(13, HIGH); // Turn the LED on
    delay(1000); // Wait for 1 second
    digitalWrite(13, LOW); // Turn the LED off
    delay(1000); // Wait for 1 second
}

Click the “Verify” button to check for errors.
Connect the Arduino to your computer using the USB cable.
Click the “Upload” button to send the code to the Arduino.

After uploading the code, the LED should blink on and off every second. You have successfully built and programmed a simple blinking LED circuit using Arduino. This fundamental project introduces basic concepts of microcontroller programming and circuit building, setting the stage for more complex projects!