Like if I threw an egg at a wall the egg would break, but if the egg is going really fast the wall would break too? Whats the underlying mechanic for this?
In: 117
Metaphor time:
Let’s remove everything you know to make it really obvious.
I have a flat pool table (With raised sides).
This table is full of holes rather then the normal 6, think sieve.
The odd holes have a shallow cup below.
The even holes have a deep cup below.
I pour a bucket of water in the middle of the table.
Some cups will fill regardless of their depths but more shallow cups will be filled to the brim than deep ones, especially when you get away from where I poured.
The more water I pour the more likely it is that a lot of deep cups will be full no matter what I do.
The water is the kinetic energy of whatever you are throwing.
The hardness, elasticity, heat, crystal structure, etc… determines the depth of the cups for each materials but you can simplify it for ELI5 to how hard an object is determines how deep the cup is.
No matter what the Kinetic energy is spread to both items evenly.
What determines the break is how many cups get filled.
something like an egg has very very shallow cups so any amount of water will fill some and cause a break.
A wall on the other hand has reasonably deep cups so it will take some water to fill even one cup.
However if you pour enough water it doesn’t matter what the small cups are the big cups will get filled too.
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