Why is sweeping in curling necessary? Isn’t the ice-sheet clean enough?
In: Physics
The shooter imparts rotation to the rock thrown.
The ice surface is “pebbled” which assists the rotating stone in it’s desire to “turn” rather than move in a straight line.
Sweeping creates a thin layer of smoother ice beneath the stone, reducing drag (stone slides further), and decreasing the amount of “turn” created by the rotation (stone moves straighter).
Same stone, thrown with same speed and rotation can be dragged more than 10 feet by good sweepers, if not more.
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