Why does something heavy dropping into a container sometimes make the container jump upwards?

Question

I saw a TikTok of the contents of a huge can of refried beans all entering into a pot below the can at once, which caused the pot to jump upwards about half an inch. Why is that?

In: 1

Answer 1

All solid objects are flexible to a degree. So when the beans are dropped into the pot, the pot is deformed slightly and the forces inside the material of the pot cause it to spring back into its original form. This causes the pot to move back upwards and because of its momentum it bounces off the ground a little.