What does the gravitational potential energy imply ?

Why does the gravitational potential energy U(r) is always negative?

Define gravitational potential energy.

When a ball is hung from a vertical spring, it stretches the spring. As it drops, it loses gravitational potential energy , but this does not at all show up as kinetic energy. What happens to the gravitational potential energy ?

What will be the gravitational potential energy at infinity ?

(a) What is the gravitational potential energy of an object on Earth due to ? (b) At which point in the swing of an ideal simple pendulum (ignoring friction) is the gravitational potential energy the maximum ?