While watching the Briar Cup about a month ago, it occured to me that I didn’t know how a curling rock curled. How does spinning something cause acceleration in any direction?
All I have to say is: (appropriated bandwidth removed)
[Note: This message has been edited by manhattan]
Score, I am not a curling expert but have a strange fascination with the sport. My understanding is that the stone is not spun but delivered or slid along the ice by one of the four people on the team.Curlingstones have a hollow grind at their bottom. Through this grind, they’re able to “curl” if the player turns them while delivering the stone. When a stone curls, it makes a curve. This curve is called curl. So it doesn’t really spin, per se.
Lots of information on The Utica Curling Club web site ( shameless local plug ).
Explore the rest of the site for more info.
“Grip the handle with the middle of your fingers, resting it between the first and second joints. With your wrist high and palm off the handle, position your thumb on the inside of the handle. Keep this hand position throughout the back and forward swing. The throwing arm should have no sideways motion and should remain straight but not rigid.
For the clockwise turn, point the handle to the 10 o’clock position. Keep the handle pointing in this direction until the stone is released at the end of the slide. The stone will curl from left to right.
For the counter clockwise turn, point the handle to the 2 o’clock position at setup. The stone will curl from right to left”
Hey tomgott, you wouldn’t happen to be a local as well would you ?
The physics of it are sumple. As it slides forward down the ice and rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise, one side of the rock will be moving forward faster than the other.
picture it in your head.
It is this side that the rock will curl away from.
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Thanks BigRoryG.
Do you think the rock would still curl if ice was completely frictionless? The system of the curling rock would therefore be analogous to a spinning top and spinning tops tend to spin on a single point no?
I’d guess that the rock would curl from air friction alone. It might not be too noticeable, but it’d happen.
No, farmer, I’m clear on the other side of the country in Los Angeles. But if you happen to know of any curling clubs in my area, please let me know.
OK, assuming no friction whatsoever (neither friction due to ice, air nor bugs that might hit the rock), a spinning rock would not curl at constant velocity right? If this is so, how is BigRoryG’s suggestion that the rock curls because one side is faster than the other still correct?
“Math prof Ross Niebergall and Physics prof Mark Shegelski are about to be featured on national programs like Quirks and Quarks for figuring out why curling rocks curl. Did you know that if you spin a can of salmon down a slippery floor, it will curl in the opposite direction of a curling rock? It’s true. And a curling rock will curl more in the last six metres than it did in the first 22 metres. Ross and Mark believe that the friction of the rock on the ice actually produces a thin film of water as it moves down the ice. When the rock is moving slowly, it drags some of that liquid to the front of the rock. The interplay between the wet and dry friction is what causes the rock to curl the way it does. If you want more details, Ross and Mark published their entire findings in a national physics journal.”
Thanks FunneeFarmer!
That’s more like the kind of answer I was looking for. I’ll have to check out that journal. Do you know which journal it is or the date?
Canadian Journal of Physics
Volume 74, Numbers 9 and 10, September and October 1996
The motion of a curling rock
M.R.A. Shegelski, R. Niebergall, and M.A. Walton
Pages 663–670
Canadian Journal of Physics
Volume 74, Numbers 9 and 10, September and October 1996
The motion of a curling rock
M.R.A. Shegelski, R. Niebergall, and M.A. Walton
Pages 663–670
Canadian Journal of Physics
Volume 74, Numbers 9 and 10, September and October 1996
The motion of a curling rock
M.R.A. Shegelski, R. Niebergall, and M.A. Walton
Pages 663–670
Well damn, my apologies.
Something is kookie with me today.
Why does Microsoft Internet Explorer ask me for a network password when I open this thread (and the reply to topic page, too)?
I don’t know but I get the same thing with the site listed as beginbids.com.