Let's use the potentiometer to control a different behavior of an LED. We'll use an LED on the breadboard and control its brightness with the potentiometer, just like the dimmer switch on the wall in your home.
What you will learn:
This project uses an important concept called pulse width modulation, or PWM, to control the brightness of the LED.
PWM creates a wave pattern in the current being sent to the LED. To create the wave pattern, the Arduino turns the power going to the LED on and off very quickly, many times a second.
PWM is a very important concept in electronics. Microcontrollers like Arduino do a great job of giving us a way to manage PWM to control a wide variety of components, including lights, motors, and heaters.
Experiment with the potentiometer by turning the dial up and down.
Think of other things you could control with the potentiometer by using PWM.