Can the potential energy of a particle be negative?

Yes, potential energy can be negative. Potential energy is the energy possessed by a body by virtue of its position relative to others, stresses within itself, electric charge, and other factors. It is present in every object but its very very difficult to determine it's absolute value. read more

Yes, potential energy can be negative. Potential energy is the energy possessed by a body by virtue of its position relative to others, stresses within itself, electric charge, and other factors. It is present in every object but its very very difficult to determine it's absolute value. read more

When a particle is in a bound state (like a satellite in orbit around the Earth) its potential energy is more negative than its kinetic energy is positive, so it has negative total energy relative to being at rest infinitely far from the Earth. read more

Best Answer: Yes, because all potential energy is relative to a certain point. If the gravitational force is pulling away from the point called 0, then the gravitational potential energy can be negative. read more