Engineering & MachinesSensors
Your Phone Knows Which Way Is Up
A microscopic weight on springs senses every tilt
A phone turned sideways turns its picture to match. Nothing watches the room, so how does it know which way is down?
You'll find out
- The moving part hidden in a chip
- How small a move a chip can feel
- What a motion chip can't tell apart
Why it matters
The same tiny part turns your screen, counts your steps and decides when a car's airbag should fire.
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