You are competing in the Winter Olympics in the Gold Medal finals for Curling. Unfortunately, your muscle memory suddenly got muscle amnesia (This is not a real thing; I'm just trying to make the problem work). Instead of relying on years of training, you will have to calculate your throw using physics. To make matters worse, your sweepers are all injured and unable to help you. Luckily, this last shot for the gold is a simple one - just get the stone to land in the center of the house (the target at the end).

What forces are acting on the curling stone a) before you let go? and b) after you let go?

Additional Questions

1. With what velocity must you release the stone from the hog line to get it to stop in the center of the house?
2. What force must you apply to the stone to generate this velocity? Assume you apply a constant force across the whole distance from the hack to the hog line.