Curling

Thorvald Forssner
Abstract
Thorvald Forssner
CurlinThorvald Fors
The calculation is very general and gives a simple explanation of the motion and curl of a curling rock without
any simplifications or extra conditions.

The equations of motion

A curling rock which slides without rotation describes a path which is a straight line.
If the rock rotates is the path curved. The path is seems to be a parabola and the rotation of the
rock is constant during the whole motion.
The weight of the rock is 20 kg and at the bottom there is a circular running band with the
diameter 125 mm. (See figure below.)

The motion of a rigid body consists of the motion of the mass center (MC) and a rotation
around the mass center.
We chose a fixed coordinate system S with origin in the starting point and the x-axis along
the initial velocity v0 and a system S with the same direction of the axis but with origin in the
mass center of the stone.
The problem has three degrees of freedom, motion of CM in the xy-plane and rotation around
the z-axis.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Consider an element d of the arc of the running band in Fig. 2.

1

The center point P of this element has the velocity q=as, where a is the radius
of the running band and s the spin of the rock.

The
velocity
o

( v x

qsin

where
v
is
the

dF

dF

is

the

where
The

dM

the
f

u
)

n(

)d

moment
o

dF

where

f(

The
correspon

dM

n(
)d
The

principle

The

componen

(d M

dM )

och

f(

x
2

)
d
)

sin

Put

f(

The

eqs.

can

qC

qS

From
v

S
C
S

the

no

uppe
y

v
v

)
d

f(

are

The motion of the mass center

mv x (v x qsin)n()d,
u

mv (v qcos)n())d
x u y
0

With the same notation as above

mv x v x D qS D(v x qS),

mv y v y D qC D(v y qC)
From these equations we now form
v x S v y C D(v x S v y C q(S2 C 2 ))/m DT/m

(3)

v x C v yS D(v x C v yS)/m DU/m ,

(4)

where according to (2 a, b)
T v x S v y C q(S 2 C 2 )

U v x C v yS.
The derivatives of Eqs. (2a) and (2b) give
v x S v y C v x S v y C q (S2 C 2 ) 2q(SS CC ) T

v x C v yS v x C v yS U
These equations are compared with (3) och (4).
Identification gives
S C q 0, i.e S, C och q as are constants.
The right hand sides become
T -DT/m

U -DU/m
From Eq. (2 c) we get , as s 0, v x S v y C q. The derivative gives v x S v y C 0.
Identification with (3) gives T 0, Dq(S 2 C 2 1) 0 S2 C 2 1, ty D, q 0.
Eqs. (2), (3) och (4) now are simplified to

v x S - v y C 0
v x C v yS DU/m
From Eq. (6) we get

(5)

v xS v yC q

v x C v yS U.

v2 U2 q2 , U v2 - q2 .
Upto now no restrictions have been laid on friction.

(6)

As S 2 C 2 1 , S and C are constants, we write S sin och C cos .

Here is the angle between the x - axis and the direction of U and constant during
the whole motion.
To sum up we have the following equations :
Eqs. (5) are now
v x sin v y cos 0

v x cos v y sin g
which gives
v x g cos

v y g sin .

(8)
(9)

Eqs. ( 6 ) give
v x sin v y cos q

( 10 )

v x cos v y sin U ,

where U v 2 q 2 .

In vector form : v U q .

U is perpendicular to q and therefore directed towards the center of the running band.

The force of friction F is opposite U.

Note that U and F has the same direction during the whole motion and there are only two
points on the running band, which fullfills this condition. See fig. 3A.
.
Fig. 3A shows the friction force F for
the two possibilities.
U and F are radially directed.

Fig. 3B. If the friction force dF (see p. 2)

is greater at the back the resulting friction
force gives a deviation to the left.

F
i n al

The

valu es
'
g
gi v

then
the
When
v
I

m as s

The

mg

rotat ion

This

tim e

In
s ert ing
v
2

The
If
N
The

2
0

las t

i s

tw o

is
t he
n
maxi ma

i .
e .
.

ce

m ot

is

pr
o

Trajectories
Because is constant (p.4) we can use the initial values (See Fig. 5)
sin q/v 0 , cos

v02 q 2 .

Eqs. (8) and (9) now become

v g
x

v q / v /2v
2

v y ' gq / v0 .
and the euations for the trajectory
x v t - ' gt 2 v 2 q 2 /2v
0
0
0

y ' gt 2 q / 2v0
We chose the following values : a 0.07 m, v
and draw the graph to
Fig. 4

(10)

och

(11). Here

show the trajector y.

3.1 m/s ,

1.3 ,

s 1.0 rad/s

t 15.5 s,

(1.6 varv p 10

y 0.55 m,

x 24 m

The shape of the trajectory for different values of the friction number
(=0.015, 0.020, 0.025).
The coordinates of the endpoints (i m): (32, 0.73), (24, 0.55) resp. (19, 0.44).
The figure below illustrates the importance of sweeping.

The figure below shows the trajectory for a rock, which is swept after 5 seconds (x=13 m).
The friction number changes from 0.020 till 0.016.
The trajectory is stretched out and is lengthened from 24 m to 27 m and the deviation
increases from 0.55 m to 0.67 m.

Final comments
A curling rock slides with the whole running band on the ice. This constrain means that the
motion has only three degrees of freedom, the motion of the center of mass and the spin.
Several of the quantities are constants during the whole motion.
The calculation offers several surprises:
The deduction is very general and no conditions have been laid on the friction
The friction force is a constant vector and the spin is constant during the wole motion.
It is very interesting that we got two possible solutions (p. 4):
1. When the friction is dry the normal force and the frictional force is bigger in the front we
get a deviation? to the left at clockwise rotation.
2. The stone-ice friction seems to be such that the friction force decreases when the normal
pressure increases, probably because of a thin liquid layer under the rock. This fact explains
the importance of sweeping in curling.
The friction has been discussed in detail by Jensen and Shelgeski [1], [3] and Bartel [2].

Referenser
[1] Jensen och Shelgeski The motion of curling rocks. Experimental investigation and
7

semi-phenomenological description, Canadian Journal of Physics 82, 791-809 (2004).

[2] Bartels Mesoscopic Aspects of Solid Friction.
[3] Shegelski, Niebergall The motion of rapily rotating curling rocks, Australian Journal of
Physics 52(6) 1025-1038
.
[4] Penner The physics of sliding cylinders and curling rocks, Am. J. Phys 69 (3),
March 2001