CURLING – SWEEPING, THE WHY & HOW

“…Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean…”

                                                                                           - Goethe

The Ice Rink: 

The surface of the Rink may look smooth but if you observe closely, there appear very small undulations or little bumps.  The stone travels on these frozen undulations known as “Pebbles”.  Before starting each game a water-sprinkler like gadget is put on the Rink which releases a fine spray of water so as to make the travel of the stone smooth and without much curling. 

Sweeping – Why?

We know that curling started as a winter team game and originated in Scotland where they used to play in the frozen lochs (lakes) during winter.  In such a place, often they used to sweep the falling snow and other debris from the path of the running rocks (stones).  They, normally used sticks to clean the debris from the field.  As the game attained sophistication over time, it was found that energetic sweeping of the “sheet” had a direct bearing on the movement of stones (rocks).

Stones do curl – but why?

The curling stones have a circumference of not more than 36 inches.  There is a ring on the bottom side of the stone, which is about 5 inches in diameter and this in fact is the “running surface”. 

 Stones are rotated by throwers either “clock-wise” or ”counter-clockwise” direction.  If the handle of the stone is rotated in clock-wise direction, the left side, scientifically, travels faster than the right side, which imparts a left oriented curl!  The same principle applies to the right revolution.  

Sweeping the sheet makes the stone travel in straight line as well as enabling it to travel farther. 

Sweeping How?

The sweeping just polishes the sheet of ice before the stone starts it travel.  The sweeping strokes warms the ice, which enables the stone to glide, through frictional melting, created by the sweeping stone.  There are a variety of very good sweeping devices available today and all the rinks have such devices with them.