Towards a First Principles Model of Curling Ice Friction and Curling Stone Dynamics

Scientific investigations to measure and explain the curl (lateral displacement) of a granite stone sliding on ice in the sport of curling go back almost 100 years (Harrington, 1924). Nevertheless, some prominent researchers in the field remain baffled as to the physical explanation of this lateral displacement. And no one has thus far been able to produce a quantitative model, from first principles, that predicts all the documented characteristics of the observed curl. In this paper, we describe our progress towards producing such a numerical model. After reviewing the history of scientific research on curling, we summarize the experimental observations (quantitative and qualitative) that need to be explained by any successful model; we also summarize the areas of general agreement. Lastly, we formulate a numerical model of ice friction for a non-rotating curling stone, which successfully predicts its longitudinal deceleration. The model also successfully predicts the rotational deceleration of a non-translating curling stone. However, a numerical model for the lateral acceleration that produces the observed curl remains elusive.

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