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The PASCO carts, I think, have a significant amount of what you call
"dissipated" energy in the form of potential energy that "locks" the
two carts together. The "velcro" strips between the carts do this.
To test my idea you could take the locked carts and carefully (with
one stationary) pull one away from the other with a thread. You will
find that once the cart "tears free" it is launched with a small
velocity. Measuring the velocity of this "launched cart" may reveal
a major portion of your energy labeled as "dissipated". Just an idea.
Hopefully I'm not muddling this too badly. (The pull is like an activation
energy in Chemistry).