A railroad car having mass m₁ is coasting with speed v₁ on a horizontal track. At the same time another car having mass m₂ is coasting with speed v₂ in the opposite direction. If the cars meet and couple together, determine the speed of both cars just after the coupling. Find the difference between the total kinetic energy before and after coupling has occurred, and explain qualitatively what happened to this energy.

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Units used: Mg Given: = m] = 10³ kg 15 Mg kJ kJ = 10³ J m2 = 12 Mg