Questions:
Since when is a paper-thin plastic ping pong ball stronger than the wood paddle?? Shouldn't the ball be getting crushed against the paddle?

And how do you get a ping pong ball to move that fast?? Isn't it to light?

Answers:
* Since when it goes really, really fast.
* Yes it should. And does. See video.
* With an amped-up spud gun / vacuum cannon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYNCGZCul1Q

Video with details of setup.

I guess in my head... one object should have succumbed to the other, not both objects succumb to each other...
Though, when I actually stop and think about it, it makes sense that with that much energy, it would get transferred to both objects. I guess I wasn't taking the time to understand just how fast that ball was really going.

It's not the ball skin that does the damage, it's that huge mass of air inside.

Good example of why rail guns that fire projectiles at 7x the speed of sound are so effective. It's as if the energy of impact had something to do with velocity. I bet there's an equation for that.