Question

Absolute potential energy can be calculated at ?​

Answer 1

Answer:

Potential energy written as assigns the PE 0 point at the surface so in this case PE can have a value of 0. It is relative to the surface of the body making the 0 point an arbitrary definition. Absolute PE sets the 0 point at the point where PE would actually be 0, it's not just set arbitrarily.

Answer 2

Answer:

The amount of work that needs to be done to bring an object to it's current location from a point of infinite distance.

So it can also be thought if as the energy that is needed for an object to reach escape velocity.

Absolute potential energy is written as

F × r=−GMmr

Or

W=−GMmr

While the amount of energy needed to reach escape velocity is written as

12mv2=GMmr

Or

E=GMmr

You'll notice that the right hand side is the same except for the negative sign. PE and W are always negative because the 0 point is located at infinity, while Energy is always positive.

Potential energy written as PE=mgh assigns the PE 0 point at the surface so in this case PE can have a value of 0. It is relative to the surface of the body making the 0 point an arbitrary definition.

Absolute PE sets the 0 point at the point where PE would actually be 0, it's not just set arbitrarily. It is analogous to absolute temperature in this way.