Sweeping in Curling

Dave Gilmer wants to know about sweeping, what it does and what the rules are asscoiated with it.

When the stone, which weighs 42 pounds, is thrown it spins.  Counter-clockwise spin is called an "Out Turn;" while clockwise spin is called an "In Turn."   The spin makes the rock curve or "curl" 4-8 laterally as it moves down the nearly 50 yards of ice. The analogy in golf would be playing a draw or fade....its very hard to play a straight ball.

By sweeping, the teams are able to affect the rate of spin on the rock. In essence, sweeping reduces the friction on the rock, which makes it spin less, and thus go straighter, as well as go farther.   So, sweeping helps a team control the trajectory of a thrown stone. The golf analogy would be "you have a breaking putt but you didn't hit it hard enough.....sweeping helps you "get" the ball to hole."

The rules governing sweeping are pretty simple:  a broom cannot touch the stone and the sweepers must sweep all the way across the width of the stone, ie they can't just sweep on one side of the stone.

Live Action update:  USA down 3-1 but should score 2 in this end. Canada looks awesome and the sold out crowd is really loud cheering for them. Its rockin'