Technical perspective: Liquid testing using built-in phone sensors

How many times have you wondered if the tap water in the hotel you just checked into is safe to drink? Have you ever wanted to check the amount of alcohol concentration in a drink served by a kind bartender? If you have, you might be able to find the answers right from your mobile phone using the ne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications of the ACM 2021-10, Vol.64 (10), p.74-74
Main Author: Vu, Tam
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Cell phones
Contamination
Counterfeit
Drinking water
Fluids
Optical properties
Surface tension
Technology
Water quality
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:How many times have you wondered if the tap water in the hotel you just checked into is safe to drink? Have you ever wanted to check the amount of alcohol concentration in a drink served by a kind bartender? If you have, you might be able to find the answers right from your mobile phone using the new technique recently introduced by a group of MIT computer scientists to measure surface tension of a liquid. This technology can potentially not only confirm any water contamination and measure alcohol concentration, but also identify the presence of substances in liquid for diagnosis in healthcare or detect counterfeit luxury goods such as brandy or perfume. Existing liquid testing methods are often based on a liquid's measurable properties such as electric permittivity, optical absorption, and so on.
ISSN:0001-0782
1557-7317
DOI:10.1145/3481036