Modern accelerometers are often small micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), and are indeed the simplest MEMS devices possible, consisting of little more than a cantilever beam with a proof mass (also known as seismic mass ).

The van der Waals forces, which are strongest from 1 nm to 10 nm above the surface, or any other long range force that extends above the surface acts to decrease the resonance frequency of the cantilever.

The Grand Canyon Skywalk is a transparent horseshoe shaped cantilever bridge and tourist attraction in Arizona near the Colorado River on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon.