Originally Posted by
Hot and Hi
Better re-read that section :-)
'Tis true. From the mouth of a PhD structural engineer I worked with. The example - placing a glass onto a hard table.
The glass and table are both elastic - springy. So when the contact of the glass occurs it initially compresses the table and the glass, but then that spring recoils - since it was compressed with the weight of the glass, that compression force is added to the weight of the glass -> 2Gs. The movement is very small, but it's there. Interposing materials that aren't springy, such as fabric or plastic foam eliminates that rebound.