Answer to Question #220894 in Physics for Fawad

Question

The student of Physics claims that he has calculated a negative potential difference between two points. Is it true or wrong? Either yes or no explain it by giving a suitable example

Answer 1

In a conservative field (gravitational and electrostatic fields being two examples) the potential is a function only of position. This response applies to motion in such fields where the only energy involved is the exchange between work and potential energy. No other forces due to such things as friction are present.

It’s incomplete to state the potential difference between two points. You must specify the potential of one with respect to the other. If you were to calculate that the potential of point A was some positive number D with respect to point B given some set of conditions, then if someone else were to compute the potential of point B with respect to point A under the same set of conditions, he or she would rightly conclude that point B had a potential of -D with respect to point A.

So in summary, there’s nothing conceptually wrong with a negative potential.