Why/how are Physics/Cloth mesh deformations linked when an object is copy and paste into new scene?

Question

If I create a Plane Object with a Cloth Modifer and let it fall on a Sphere Object with a Collison modifier, the plane falls and deforms around the Sphere Object as expected when I press Play.

If I then return to frame 1 and select the Plane object and copy it with Ctrl-C,

Then I create a New Scene, and change to that Scene.

And then I paste the Plane Object into the new scene with Ctrl-V.

And then I press Play.

The new Plane Object in the new Scene will fall and deform just like the plane object from the original scene - even though the Sphere Object is not present in the new scene.

Is the new Plane Object linked somehow to the original Plane Object?

Why does the new Plane Object in the new Scene deform?

When I copy and paste an object, what data is duplicated and what remains linked/shared between the original and the copy?

Answer 1

This is not knowledge, what i am writing here, just thoughts, as it might be in Blender as it is in e.g. programming languages.

It is exactly as you wrote.

If you copy an object with cloth modifier, you would "expect" that everything is "really" doubled. But is isn't. The reason for this that the developers try to "optimize" things like storage (disc + RAM). I know these things e.g. will be done in computer languages. If you "copy" an object, the object won't be really copied but just another pointer will be created and this pointer "points" to the same object (which is physically at exactly the same address). The developers do this because they save time + space for saving the copied object. Yes, under the hood there will be saved some more things like the information whether the object was changed (might be just a timestamp). But as soon as you change just one property of the copied object, then in the background these "parts" (or the whole object) of that object will be really copied (from the original to the copy) because else there won't be a difference between the original and the copy and you won't "see" your changed attribute. I tried it out and if you e.g. change the quality steps in your copy, then Blender "recalculates" the simulation with that new attribute and it works as you would expect it. Hope this clarifies it a bit and does not confuse you even more.

And if you "think" about it: a copy is a 1:1 copy of the original object. So if it behaves exactly as the other one. This is expected and right behaviour. Although it might not be logical because physically it makes no sense.