Men's Olympic Curling Final!

Have you ever wondered how curling works? Ahead of the men’s olympic final on tomorrow between Canada and Great Britain we delve into the physics behind this weird and wonderful sport.

We have selected a couple of papers from Japanese physicist Jiro Murata, investigating the affects of sweeping on the trajectory of the stone, and of the physics of the curling stone itself.

In his 2022 article, Jiro Murata measured the stones’ curling motion to study the mechanisms at play. The findings suggest that angular momentum changes in different phases of the stone’s path, and with this transfer comes a change in the point of rotation. These findings support a lot of work that has gone before it, and presents a “principle of curling” that is based on experimental evidence and is not dependent on a single model.

Please read, rate and review the article here:

Study of curling mechanism by precision kinematic measurements of curling stone’s motion

AbstractWhy do curling stones curl? That is a question physicists are often asked, yet no answer has been established. Stones rotating clockwise curl right, contrary to our naive expectations. Afte…

PaperstarsJiro Murata

Then in 2024, Murata’s group from Rikkyo University explored the effects of sweeping on curling. The group developed a method by for exploring the effect that sweeping has on the curl of a stone, and recommend this method for non-scientists (I.e. players) to try for themselves. The findings show that sweeping on one side has a repulsive effect, controlling the curl of the stone with 95% reliability. Although promising, the authors note that there is not enough evidence to claim significance, but recommend that the method should be tried and explored by the curlers themselves.

Please read, rate and review this article here:

Sweeping effects on curling and friction estimation

AbstractPrecisely estimating and controlling the friction of a stone on ice is one of the abilities that is essential for good curling players. We propose here a new, simple, and player-friendly me…

PaperstarsHinako Sonobe, Yamato Aoki, Osuke Miya, Kei Murata, Eri Ogihara, Yasuaki Okawara, Sachi Ozaki, Nishiki Tomizawa, Jiro Murata

This is all without going into other aspects such as the importance of ice pebbling to reduce friction, the need for the melted water layer in order for stones to curl, and the rather long list of rules and regulations! 

We hope that all competitors have a good and fair final but we are allowing bias to creep in and hope that Bruce Mouat and his team bring home the gold for team GB!