Besides the material of the object, what causes things to bounce? For example, a bowling ball and a feather won’t bounce (assumption) on a concrete floor. Neither will a flat piece of paper but once you crumple it, there’s a chance it will bounce. Talking specifically about free falling objects, not thrown or anything with force applied to it. Does the distance of the drop also affect if something will bounce?
In: Physics
A moving object carries energy in its motion. Upon impact, that energy *must* be absorbed.
A sandbag being dropped on concrete will absorb its energy mostly in the friction of the sand grains. This converts its energy to heat – it will not convert from heat back into motion.
A rubber or play-doh ball hitting a tile floor will absorb its energy in the flattening of the ball. However, the rubber ball will absorb it as an elastic stretching energy, like a spring, while the play-doh ball will absorb the energy by *inelastic* stretching – this produces heat. While the rubber ball returns to its original shape, the play-doh ball remains flat. This is a sign that rubber is far more elastic than play-doh.
So, the rubber ball absorbs the energy as an elastic stretching, and uses the energy to return to its original shape, which also involves firing the ball back up into the air as it snaps back into its original shape.
In any collision, the energy absorbed through elastic versus inelastic deformation depends quite a bit. A steel ball on a steel surface at low speeds will behave extremely elastically, but at high speeds it behaves almost completely inelastic.
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