During
every curling game you have played or watched the laws of physics are not
merely bent but appear to be broken. A
key component to curling is the curl.
You all know that putting a slight clockwise turn on the delivered stone
will make the stone curl to the right. A
counterclockwise twist will send the stone to the left.
That’s
all fine and good, except that the basic laws of physics say the stone should
curl in the opposite direction.
Don’t
believe me? Go to your kitchen. Take a drinking glass, turn it upside down
and slide it clockwise across your counter-top.
(Wait! Maybe you should do this
on the floor.) You will see that the
glass “curls” to the left. Magic? No. As
the glass slides along, the front of the glass is made heavier by the energy of
its slide and its rotation. As it turns
clockwise the force of friction pushes the glass in the opposite direction.
But,
this does not play out with a curling stone, which has a raised circular ridge
along the bottom, similar to the rim of the drinking glass. This mystery has pit physicist against
physicist. One theory claims that the
weight of the stone and the force of its slide heats and partially melts the
ice. This creates a micro-thin layer of
water that reduces friction at the front of the stone. Because the force of friction is now stronger
at the back of the stone it curls in the opposite direction.
The
other group theorizes that the pebble on the ice causes the curl. As the front edge of the stone crosses the
ice, it "machines off" the top of the pebble. This causes the stone
to pivot around the crushed pebbles and curl in the direction where the angular
momentum is higher.
Do you recognize this man? (This picture has nothing
to do with the article above)
(Thanks to the Columbus Dispatch for writing the original article)
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