How do I find names of components I don't know?

Question

I recently started with Arduino and I have my starter kit. However, there are some strange looking components I can't recognize. Is there some way to find out the names of these components?

Answer 1

The Arduino webpage has a section about their Starter Kits, including pictures (and technical specs if you scroll down the page). Particularly, if you go to the Arduino store, there is a sub-menu for components - for example, for actuators (there are more categories to the left of the image).

There is a blog by Aaron Eiche, Arduino Starter Rundown, that if you scroll down, there is a chart that labels the main components.

There are several websites that have pages that identify components by image - an example is the uCHobby webpage Identifying Electronic Components, with pictorial menus of the main types of components.

In Google images, searching "arduino starter kit components" yields a considerable amount of labelled component charts.

Answer 2

A slightly more general answer to this question would be to browse the catalogue of a component supplier. Printed catalogues seem to be becoming rarer (Maplin used to sell a catalogue, but it seems to be discontinued this year), but RS and Farnell still seem to have printed ones.

I'm not suggesting you find specific components by searching the catalogue, but skimming through a catalogue will give you an idea about some of the components that do exist, and will help you to narrow things down a little.