History of Morse Code

Morse Code was developed by Samuel Morse in 1836, an American inventor and painter. The telegraph system that Samuel Morse developed allowed for individuals to transmit electrical signals over wires. At this time, there were no radios or telephones so this method of communication was quickly adopted across the United States. This was a turning point in the history of communication.

The series of electrical signals that are sent and recieved can be differentiated by short and long signals. Short signals are referred to as "dits", where as long signals are called "dahs". Dits are represented with dots and dahs are represented with dashes.

Morse code is based upon timed intervals between dits, dahs, letters and words. This is how you can tell them apart when deciphering:

- A dit is 1 unit of time

-A dah is 3 units of time

-A pause between letters is 3 units of times

-A pause between words is 7 units of time

-1 unit of time between dits and dahs

The speed that Morse Code is transmitted in is commonly known as WPM, or words per minute. After doing some research, we found that the word "Paris" is used as a standard for the length of a word. The reason is because "Paris" requires exactly 50 units of time to transmit. For example, if you were to transmit the word "Paris" 10 times, you are transmitting at 10 WPM.

Step 1: What You Need to Get Started

Here are the components you will need to acculturate replicate our experiment:

- An Arduino

- A Breadboard

- A Speaker

- An LED (we chose blue)

- A 220 ohm resistor

The next step of this Instructable will teach you how to build our Arduino Morse Code System.

Step 2: The Build

Connect the resistor to the GND and to the cathode of the LED.

Connect the anode to Arduino pin 12.

Arduino pin 9 to positive speaker.

Speaker negitive to GND

Arduino pin 7 to button.

Button to ground.

Step 3: Circuit Diagram

Step 4: Application

For our class project, we had to design a project for students that would fulfill a Standard of Technology, in this case we had benchmark 17 (E, F, and G):

Benchmark 17-E:
Information can be acquired and sent through a variety of technological sources, including print and electronic media.

Benchmark 17-F:

Communication technology is the transfer of messages among people and/or machines over distances through the use of technology.

Benchmark 17-G:

Letters, characters, icons, and signs are symbols that represent ideas, quantities, elements, and operations.

Morse Code allows for an individual to send and receive messages using a simple learn-able code. This project allows for students to take a complex idea, and turn it into a simple processing system. We believe that this project would be engaging in a classroom setting because most people have heard of Morse Code but fail to understand how it works and operates.

Teaching this to students offers them a unique skill that they could keep for a lifetime. Who knows, maybe their knowledge of Morse Code will come in handy one day.