Negative energy?

Question

Can anyone briefly explain the concept of negative energy? How can anything have less than nothing regarding energy? Thanks for any answers in advance.

Answer 1

Negative rest energy, which corresponds to negative mass, which has many unusual physical consequences.
Energy in any system below the conventionally-defined ground state. Examples are positrons under the Dirac sea model of electron behavior, and the region of reduced vacuum energy associated with the Casimir effect. This type of effect typically occurs under exotic or unexpected conditions, as the definition of the ground state is usually chosen because it is the state of lowest expected energy within a system.
Energy in any system below an arbitrarily defined zero level. Examples include electron potential energy within an atom under the Bohr model of atomic structure, and gravitational potential energy in Newton's model of gravity.

Answer 2

Just watch me when we run out of coffee on a monday morning!

Otherwise, antimatter DOES exist and can be created in labs. It does not have negative weight though nor does it have negative energy.

Real negative energy means negative mass which doesn't exist. Therefore negative energy does not exist.

You can have negative potential energy. When we speak of potential energy, we usually mean at ground level, so something underground has negative potential energy but that is simply because we haven't use the least possible energy state as being 0. That would be at the center of earth.

You can check:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_energy

Answer 3

we have negative energy states in quantum mechanics. but when you imply negative energy i think " there is no such thing" but i may be wrong me being a novice in physics.
experts can comment. sorry for not providing exact answer

Answer 4

I tend to agree with Gnomon, but having thought about it a while.......

If we finally discover 'anti-matter' then surely this would have negative energy, seen as though it also must have negative mass.

Definately a good question though - makes you think that one!!! ;o)

Answer 5

I don't believe there is such a thing as negative energy.

Answer 6

For some interesting results on negative energy as theoretical physical phenomena please see the references below.