Is Minecart motion preserved if a chunk is unloaded?

Question

I'm making an adventure map. In one challenge you have to shoot a minecart with a bow and arrow and destroy it in order to open a door. I have the minecart on a loop of powered rails (except for the corners, and a detector block used to determine when the minecart stops going round).

Simple experiments seem to suggest that the cart will keep moving once it's going even if I save/exit and come back, but is this always true? Is there a chance someone playing my map could get to this puzzle and find the minecart stationary?

Answer

According to my testing, minecraft momentum is preserved when a chunk is unloaded. EthosLab noted that minecart momentum is preserved in one of his videos, but I tested it myself just to make sure.

The minecart in this screenshot is moving counter-clockwise, and it has just enough momentum to reach the Powered Rail segment once completing the loop. If I quit and then restart Minecraft when the minecart is where it is in the screenshot (just after the Powered Rails), the minecart acts exactly as it would if I hadn't quit the game (it just reaches the Powered Rails).

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