A railroad car having a mass of 15 Mg is coasting at 1.5 m/s on a horizontal track. At the same time another car having a mass of 12 Mg is coasting at 0.75 m/s in the opposite direction. It 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.