When a bat strikes a ball or a hammer hits a nail, the surfaces of two bodies come together with some relative velocity at an initial instant termed incidence. After incidence there would be interference or interpenetration of the bodies were it not for the interface pressure that arises in a small area of contact between the two bodies. At each instant during the contact period, the pressure in the contact area results in local deformation and consequent indentation; this indentation equals the interference that would exist if the bodies were not deformed.

At each instant during impact the interface or contact pressure has a resultant force of action or reaction that acts in opposite directions on the two colliding bodies and thereby resists interpenetration. Initially the force increases with increasing indentation and it reduces the speed at which the bodies are approaching each other.