I was reading a MEMs handbook when I thought

school kids textbooks could have a little MEMS item typically less than a millimeter radius that tells how many times the book has been used during a particular period

the capacitive version of a mems movement sensor could affect an RC circuit attached to one of those RFID [] things to describe on visiting the classroom how many times the book had been studied

Technologically that is: possibly a tiny photovoltaic plus an RC circuit where the capacitor was associated with a capacative MEMS sensor; the RC circuit modifies the impedance of the RFID which is basically a coil

I'm skipping the transistor as the idea is to have it function absent a battery

Teachers could use this to urge different study habits to their students as may be beneficial

Even just flipping through the book to "look compliant" might result n actual textbook reading; If the MEMS item was twice as costly to produce as an RFID[] then that would be cheaper than a quarter

thus this thing which is cheaper than a quarter might cause a tenth better study habits which might translate to tens of thousands of more college students
-- beanangel, May 26 2009

mems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEMS
[normzone, May 26 2009]

beepreader beepreader
[beanangel, May 26 2009]

It's not my bone over there <-, but why "3pt to 10pt" ? And is that "percent" or "points"?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 26 2009


[mb] thats a weirdly deep thing

I think way less than 2/3 of a standard deviation n way more than 1/3 of a standard deviation

a 67 to a 73 on a HS test is a D to C; rather meaningful to the student yet very little material; there is a big blob of students near the middle of the curve though

way out there at the 93 to 99 region I doubt this does much

It depends on the teachers application
-- beanangel, May 26 2009


what is the // capacitive version of a mems movement sensor // ? A capacitive sensor that looks for 'page present/absent'? Why do you need MEMS for that?
-- loonquawl, May 27 2009


bone, simply because it fits so well into a totalitarian regimented society without privacy or free choice. I have this objection to almost all of BA's ideas.
-- WcW, May 27 2009



random, halfbakery