Jimu news reporter Wang Chenxi
The curling competition of the Beijing Winter Olympics is in full swing, and many people are curious, why do curlers keep "mopping the floor" with a brush during the competition? What is the purpose of the brush in their hands?
It turns out that when a curler throws a curler in a curling game, his teammates will quickly mop the floor in front of the curling route, which is called ice brushing, and this time requires the help of a tool - "curling brush". At first glance, this thing seems to be similar to the mop we use every day, but in fact, this is not an ordinary "mop", there is a lot of learning in it!
Members of the Chinese women's curling team are brushing the ice
The role of the curling brush
Before you can understand the role of curling brushes, you must first understand the rules of curling. In short, you can score points by throwing curling near the center of the opposite base camp, and the more pots near the center of the base camp, the higher the score, so how to make the curling slide straight becomes the key to victory.
At this time, the curling brush plays an important role, it can play an important role in adjusting the effect of the line trajectory, when the athlete throws the curling, the line trajectory thrown does not achieve the desired effect, the ice brusher will use the curling brush to brush the ice, by rubbing with the ice surface to generate heat, so that the ice surface melts, forming a very thin layer of water film between the curling and the ice surface, this layer of ice film makes the curling and the ice surface separate, effectively reducing the friction, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling the acceleration of curling.
The speed and angle of ice brushing are different, which can change the speed of curling, the travel route and even the rotation speed to a certain extent. Of course, brushing ice can not be brushed too vigorously, excessive brushing ice will make the water film thicken, the surface tension of the water film will produce motion resistance to affect the normal progress of curling. Therefore, after the athlete throws the curling, there needs to be a prejudgment of whether the state of each curling curling needs to be adjusted, communicate with the ice brushers on the field in time, and adjust the speed and trajectory of the curling by brushing the ice, so that the curling can smoothly reach the center of the base camp.
Swiss women's curling team members brush ice
How to brush ice in the end
Ice brushers and throwers are a team, and whether curling is good or not has a lot to do with ice skaters. The skating time after the curling is thrown is about 20 seconds, which means that the ice brusher needs to have 20 seconds of ice wiping ability.
Generally speaking, brushing ice can make curling slide 3 to 5 meters more, excellent ice brushers can make curling run 8 meters more, as for the general amateur players, it is very good to advance 2 meters more.
Excellent male ice brushers at home and abroad can increase the ice temperature by 2.3 °C ~ 2.4 °C by rubbing the ice surface to generate heat. But to achieve such an effect, the ice brusher must maintain a certain amount of strength and frequency.
Of course, ice brushing is not random brushing, curling rules stipulate that ice brushers can not deliberately destroy the ice surface, whether it is the curling brush itself or the player's body, clothing or shoes, can not touch the curling.
Brushing ice is also a skill, while brushing, but also quickly judge the speed and position of curling. Once the speed of the curling stone slows down, it will begin to deflect in one direction and the path will become an arc. If it is deflected counterclockwise, the curling stone will spin to the left, and if it is clockwise, it will spin to the right. At this time, it is necessary for the ice brusher to brush the ice in the opposite direction, but constantly brushing the ice can sometimes cause the curling to slide too far, and it is common to slide out of the base camp.
The evolutionary history of curling brushes
The first type of ice brush is the most primitive one, called CORN BROOM, Chinese also known as "corn broom". It is made from crops like sorghum stalks. Only a few fourth-basers now use it when throwing or directing, but not for ice sweeping.
Curling brush made of sorghum stalks
The second type of ice brush is an evolved version of the original sorghum sorghum brush, which is similar in shape to the original ice brush, but it is difficult to see in the current competition.
An evolved version of the corn broom
The third type of ice brush is a normal brush. It is made from animal hair or other knitted fabrics, and the brush can still be seen in current competitions, and many athletes are still using it.
Brush
The fourth is the synthetic brush, the predecessor of the current ice brush. However, the filling in the brush head is particularly hard, the ice sweeping effect is not good, and it has been replaced by the current brush.
Ice brushes of synthetic materials
The last is the carbon fiber brush, which is the most commonly used style of modern curling brush, which is the latest type of curling brush made of carbon fiber, and part of its production material is synthetic mane or horse mane, which is also the type of curling brush used in the current World Curling Federation Regulation Competition.
Carbon fiber brush
(Part of the image source: Xinhua News Agency)
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