Why is mechanical energy a negative value?

Mechanical energy can take on negative values. It's not inherently a negative value. The primary reason is that potential energy can be negative, so the total mechanical energy can therefore be negative as well. read more

Mechanical energy can take on negative values. It’s not inherently a negative value. The primary reason is that potential energy can be negative, so the total mechanical energy can therefore be negative as well. read more

Mechanical Energy is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy . Kinetic Energy can never have a negative value ( considering mass is non negative ) because of the term velocity( v²) . Coming to potential energy , it depends on reference line ( i.e. the line where you have considered zero P.E. ) . read more

Potential energy is also positive because $g=9.8$ and height is a distance, which is also non-negative. And yet, the problems says that the answer is true, as in the total mechanical energy is allowed to be negative. read more