Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software. Arduino boards are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter message - and turn it into an output - activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.

A Breadboard is simply a board for prototyping or building circuits on. It allows you to place components and connections on the board to make circuits without soldering. The holes in the breadboard take care of your connections by physically holding onto parts or wires where you put them and electrically connecting them inside the board. The ease of use and speed are great for learning and quick prototyping of simple circuits. More complex circuits and high frequency circuits are less suited to breadboarding. Breadboard circuits are also not ideal for long term use like circuits built on perfboard (protoboard) or PCB (printed circuit board), but they also don’t have the soldering (protoboard), or design and manufacturing costs (PCBs).

A push button switch is a mechanical device used to control an electrical circuit in which the operator manually presses a button to actuate an internal switching mechanism. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and configurations, depending on the design requirements. Push button switches rely on a simple in-out actuation mechanism. They can be employed to break (off) or initiate (on) a circuit. Alternatively, they can provide an input for the user interface of a piece of equipment or start/stop a particular function.

Jumper wires are simply wires that have connector pins at each end, allowing them to be used to connect two points to each other without soldering. Jumper wires are typically used with breadboards and other prototyping tools in order to make it easy to change a circuit as needed. Fairly simple. In fact, it doesn’t get much more basic than jumper wires.

A buzzer or beeper is an audio signaling device, which may be mechanical, electromechanical, or piezoelectric (piezo for short). Typical uses of buzzers and beepers include alarm devices, timers, train and confirmation of user input such as a mouse click or keystroke.

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photons) is determined by the energy required for electrons to cross the band gap of the semiconductor.White light is obtained by using multiple semiconductors or a layer of light-emitting phosphor on the semiconductor device.

A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines, among other uses.