To cut directly to the chase, table saw kick back is a tremendous pain.
Caused by a variety of errors (usually operator induced), table saw kickback is that thing that occurs when the workpiece you are oh-so pleasantly feeding through your table saw thunderously flings back at you like a grainy falcon zeroed-in on a succulent trout or rat, a rocketing bird of prey fixed upon a savory morsel that just so happens to be built of your flesh...
Kickback is that thing that occurs when your workpiece catapults from your table saw at speeds that can exceed 100 miles per hour and smashes into whatever happens to be in front of the saw.
Of course, this object is commonly you, the operator, but might also be a shop wall or companion machine.
Accordingly, a kickback impact is dangerous and painful and will, without a doubt, leave a mark whether it touches-down on your body or on the surface behind you.
Despite the calamity of a kickback, the phenomenon is surprisingly common.
Needless to say, then, this perfectly undesirable result can be achieved through a variety of avenues.
For the most part, though, kickback occurs during a cut when a table saw's blade makes contact with a section of the workpiece that has already passed through the blade (or, when the blade hits a section of stock that has already been cut).
This causes the blade to bite and catch into the stock, halt the progress of the cut, and hurl the workpiece in the direction the blade is spinning (or, towards the operator).
The workpiece is flung with the force and momentum of the saw's spinning blade and is forced backward with that rotation.
This biting and catching (which is, essentially, always the most basic cause of table saw kickback) is the result of a few varying factors.
To name the most common culprits, kickback will occur where the kerf (or cut width / line) of a cut is allowed to come back together after passing through the blade or where the path of a workpiece through the machine is not clear.
An unclear feeding path occurs when a piece of stock is sloppily fed, when there is not sufficient downward force on a workpiece as it's fed, where a blade is tilted toward the saw's fence, where the saw's fence is scewed toward the blade, and where blade and stock conditions are not ideal.
In a nutshell, poor blade or stock conditions can be defined as a blade that is dull, dirty, broken, warped or inappropriate and a piece of stock that is wet, warped, pitchy, or pressurized).
Essentially, where contact occurs between the blade and a section of the workpiece that has already passed through that blade, you are likely to experience kickback.
This can be prevented with a carefully used riving knife, with cautious stock feeding practices, clean and correct saw blades, and a thoughtful operator.
So, in another nutshell, be always careful while operating a table saw, no matter how familiar or comfortable you are with this machine, it is still stronger and more stubborn that you are.
When battling head to head, it is safer to assume that the table saw will win; respect the machine and the components that make it run and you will enjoy much smoother cutting process and surely experience significantly less kickback.