[DonRotolo]

Yes. There absolutely must be some physical time in which the object consumes to go from full speed t a stop, it cannot physically be zero.

Assume a drop onto a polished hard steel surface:

If we take the case of a scoop of mashed potatoes, that time is very long, relatively. It will not bounce very high as the energy dissipated is not reflected back to the object but consumed by deforming the 'ball'.

If we take the case of a hardened steel ball, the ball will elastically deform, that deformation energy will be returned mostly to the ball (it's relative to the mass) and the ball will bounce higher than a 'super ball'. What kind of force (in g) would it take to dent in a hardened steel ball? A lot. The ball experiences several thousand g

Don