A heavy lab cart moves with kinetic energy K init on a track and collides with a lighter lab cart that is initially at rest. The carts bounce off each other but the collision is not perfectly elastic, causing the two-cart system to lose kinetic energy K lost. A student wonders if the fraction of kinetic energy lost from the two-cart system during the collision (Klost/Kini) depends on the speed of the first cart before the collision and plans to perform an experiment.

The student hypothesizes that a greater fraction of kinetic energy is lost from the system during the collision when the speed of the first cart is greater. Briefly state one reason the hypothesis might be correct