A scientific look at the efficiency of curling brooms by Jenni Gill

Purpose: For my project I plan to gather data on different types of curling brooms. To do this I will create a launching device that will throw a curling stone the same distance every time. I will then have two people sweep a rock with a specific type of broom every time, and I will measure how far it travels. Using this data I will create some graphs that show the difference between the different types of brooms. I chose this topic because I am on the school curling team and I wondered if there really was any difference between the different brooms.  Everybody has a preference and I wondered if that preference made a difference while playing a game. I want to find out which of the commonly used brooms is most effective and compare them to a broom designed by me.

Hypothesis: I think that my broom will work the best. This is because the points on the head will create more heat on the ice causing the rock to go farther.

Variables:

        My independent variable is the different types of brooms used. I will chose which broom to use and
when thus making it the independent or affecting variable. 

        My dependent variable is how far each of the rocks travel while being swept. The swept rocks will hopefully travel a greater distance then an unswept rock. The correlation we expect to find between the brooms and the distance of the rock is what makes this my dependent variable. 

        I have a couple controlled variables. One of them is the velocity of the rock when it starts to move. A launcher that I will make controls this. The other is the dirt on the bottom of the rock when it is launched. The ice surface is covered with tiny pieces of debris that get caught on the rock. Wiping off
the bottom of the rock before it is launched will help to minimize the affects. 

        I also have a couple uncontrolled yet noted variables. One is that the ice is covered with pieces of debris. This is unavoidable and can't be measured and so will be takes into account when interpreting the data. Another uncontrolled variable is the elasticity of the launching mechanism. It will be put in the arena before I start to help it cool down but as I use it, it may lose its stretch. This can’t be measured and it would not be an easy fix and therefore will be taken into account when reading the data. Changes in temperature and humidity are also variables. They will change the ice surface and affect how far the rock slides. The last uncontrolled variable is the slide path. Each time a rock is thrown it will take a slightly different path. When they are close to the same slide path the ice will be polished. When a rock doesn’t take that slide path the ice hasn’t been polished and the rock will travel a significantly less distance.