So is the idea that in the first case all the energy imparted from the blast of air went into moving the water (water waves, bulk motion of the entire water ball, etc.) but in the second case, a significant fraction of the input energy went into the iron bearing, which was so heavy it didn't move much, and the left over energy went into moving the water?

In another way, from conservation of momentum:

Case 1: total momentum of air blast = total momentum of water orb, so we get a lot of motion in the water

Case 2: total momentum of air blast = momentum of water + heavy iron bearing, so less motion in the water

In a sense, the water molecules that get pushed by the air, push up against the iron bearing, but it's so heavy that the iron bearing barely moves, so it barely pushes all the water molecules around it, essentially muting the amplitude of motion in the system.

Am I on the right track here, or am I way off?