After a game of curling, physicist Mark Shegelski likes to sit down with his buddies and play a little game.

B次元官网网址淚 would say, B次元官网网址楬ey, hey, before you pour the beerB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� because you have to drink beer after every game of curling, right B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址榖efore you pour the beer, let me just show you something,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Shegelski said. He would grab the empty beer glass, turn it upside down and place it on the table.

Pretending like he was concentrating hard, Shegelski would send the glass down the table. As it travelled, the glass would rotate clockwise and move gradually to the left.

It was the exact opposite to how a curling rock would move, and ShegelskiB次元官网网址檚 fellow curlers would be dumbfounded.

B次元官网网址淭hey were just like B次元官网网址楬ow? WhatB次元官网网址檚 going on?B次元官网网址� And for them, this was baffling. Why was the drinking glass going the wrong way?B次元官网网址� Shegelski said. B次元官网网址淏ut for me, it was the other way around.B次元官网网址�

For Shegelski, a physicist that researches quantum mechanics at the University of Northern British Columbia, the curling rock was the mystery. Unlike a drinking glass, which curls (or moves to the side) in the opposite direction that it rotates, a curling rock will curl in the same direction of its rotation.

B次元官网网址淔rom a physics point of view, itB次元官网网址檚 easy to understand the drinking glass,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 harder to understand the curling rock.B次元官网网址�

Easy is a relative term of course, but the basics of drinking-glass physics can be distilled into a few sentences.

As the glass moves forward, friction increases at the front of the glass. Friction is what slows the glass down and brings it to a stop. But the glass is also rotating, moving in a clockwise pattern. Because the front of the glass is moving to the right (and the right side is moving slower because of it), there will be more friction on the left as it pushes against the table.

This means that the place with the most friction on the glass will be the front-left portion B次元官网网址� which is why the glass curls to the left.

But with a curling rock, those rules of physics donB次元官网网址檛 seem to apply. Instead of the rock being drawn in the direction of the most friction, it curls away from it.

That perplexed Shegelski as a grad student, and prompted him to dabble in some of the science behind the sport from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. But it was research that was just for fun, and he dropped it for about 10 years.

When he came back to it, he partnered with Edward Lozowski, a physicist at the University of Alberta and the B次元官网网址渒ing of the physics of iceB次元官网网址� according to Shegelski. Together, they came up with a theory that could explain the reason behind the unusual movement of curling rocks.

B次元官网网址淚 was just thinking, whatB次元官网网址檚 the easiest way to make the rock go sideways,B次元官网网址� Shegelski explained. B次元官网网址淚 thought, if when you shot the rock, suppose itB次元官网网址檚 stuck in the right-hand side, and rotated for a bit B次元官网网址� Then suppose that stickiness broke and it slid the rest of the way straight down the ice.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淪o then I though, well what if you have a whole bunch of brief times where it rotates and changes its direction.B次元官网网址�

The concept, which Shegelski and Lozowski dubbed the B次元官网网址減ivot-slide modelB次元官网网址� uses the bumpiness of curling ice as a key part of the theory. As the curling rock travels and rotates, it will catch on the multitude of bumps covering the ice. Each bump that pulls it to the right will result in the rock curling towards the right.

Of course, it is hypothetically possible the rock could curl to the left using this model, but thatB次元官网网址檚 not likely to happen.

B次元官网网址淲e think there are sticky events or pivoting at different points around the rock,B次元官网网址� Shegelski explained. B次元官网网址淏ut the bottom line is that pivots on the left side and pivots on the right side cancel each other out.B次元官网网址�

Because of the rotation, the movement isnB次元官网网址檛 B次元官网网址渢he same left and right,B次元官网网址� he continued.

B次元官网网址淪o as a result you get more pivoting on the right-hand side. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what dominates and governs the way it moves.B次元官网网址�

For Shegelski, it was a eureka moment, especially now that other experiments have given credence to his and LozowskiB次元官网网址檚 theory. But there is still more to learn.

Take the distance a rock curls for example. Normally, a rock will curl about a metre as it travels up the ice; this remains true whether it rotates two times or 60 times as it travels. But get the rock to rotate 80 times? Then suddenly the curling rock will move two metres to the right.

In another experiment, Shegelski found that if he shot the rock on hockey ice, and made it rotate quickly while sliding slowly, it would curl in a spiral pattern.

B次元官网网址淭his is why I say these rocks are amazing, the things they do,B次元官网网址� Shegelski said. B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e just looking at this and youB次元官网网址檙e just shocked.B次元官网网址�

Shegelski and Lozowski will continue to work on the physics of curling, but only in their spare time. They have other research projects after all, and curling rocks will continue to move in mysterious ways, no matter how thoroughly they are researched.

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 one of the things I love about physics,B次元官网网址� Shegelski said. B次元官网网址淵ou think you get it all figured out, and then you try something and it goes exactly opposite to what you expect.

B次元官网网址淎nd then you sit down and you say B次元官网网址榃hy does it do what it just did?B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎nd by thinking enough, most of the time you can figure out the answer and realize if you really would have thought about it really carefully B次元官网网址� you would have realized you were going to get this surprising result.B次元官网网址�

editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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