Second_Sol

Second_Sol t1_jakpukk wrote

It's not quite so simple, Dimorphos turned out to have a lot of loose rubble, so the impact created a lot of ejecta going the opposite direction of the site of impact, which means you get a greater pushing effect.

Imagine tossing a sticky ball at metal cube in space.

The ball will stick to the cube and they'll float away at a slower velocity than what the ball originally had

If you toss a rubber bouncy ball of the same mass at the same velocity, it'll bounce away from the metal cube, and come flying back at you while the cube will float away faster than if you used the sticky ball

1