Gyroscopes Got So Small
Gyroscopes Got So Small [video]
A video exploring how MEMS gyroscopes shrank to microscopic scale, and the Hacker News discussion that followed. Commenters dig into the physics: the sensing structures are etched free from the layer below, tuned to maximize sensitivity through the Coriolis force, and their odd geometry resembles computer-evolved antennas. One reader wonders whether that free-floating mass explains why phones get stuck in landscape until you shake them.
It would explain why every smart phone I have ever owned has gotten stuck in landscape until I shook it hard enough.