Vibration and Earthquake Logger with an Accelerometer
Record vibrations from traffic, machines or tremors and see them as a live seismograph.
A MEMS accelerometer measures tiny accelerations many times per second. Bolted to a floor slab, it turns into a simple seismograph — a great science-fair project.
Mission steps
Mount it rigidly
Screw or epoxy the sensor to a concrete floor, not carpet or a wooden table.
Wire it
IMU on I2C to the Pico (SDA GP4, SCL GP5, 3V3, GND).
Sample fast
Read the Z axis 100 times per second and subtract the average to remove gravity.
Detect events
Trigger a log entry when the short-term average jumps above the long-term average (STA/LTA).
Visualize
Send readings over Wi-Fi to a web chart or MQTT, or print them to Thonny's plotter.
Questions
Can it detect real earthquakes?
Nearby moderate quakes, yes. Professional-grade detection needs dedicated geophone sensors like those in citizen-seismology networks.