How does the total amount of energy change as the spring goes up and down?

The total amount of energy always stays the same because of the law of conservation of energy, meaning that there is always the same amount of energy, it just gets turned into different forms like potential energy, kinetic energy, sound, thermal, etc.

what was the acceleration of the 2 kg cart?

⇒ 16.0 cm/s2

what was the acceleration of the 4 kg cart?

⇒ 8.1 cm/s2

what was the acceleration of the 6 kg cart?

⇒ 5.3 cm/s2