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Is it possible for the total mechanical energy of a moving particle to be negative?

April 26, 2017energy Mathematics mechanical moving particle Physics possible total

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Is it possible for the total mechanical energy of a moving particle to be negative?

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Yes. All that would imply is that the particle doesn’t have enough energy to make it to the datum location at which we ARBITRARILY define potential energy to equal zero. Defining the datum of GPE infinitely far from all bodies…any orbiting body due to gravity alone fits this condition.