How does an accelerometer work?
In: Geek Finds
12 Oct 2009
Accelerometers are built-in to many laptops and iPods and they sense when the equipment is moving in any direction. How do they do this. Magic. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic (A.Clarke).
If you have two microstructures next to each other, they have a certain capacitance between them. If an accelerative force moves one of the structures, then the capacitance will change. Add some circuitry to convert from capacitance to voltage, and you will get an accelerometer. Easy!
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