An object has gravitational potential energy due to its position in the earth's gravitational field. The object is able to move to a point with higher or lower gravitational potential.The gravitational potential - V - at a point is the work done per unit mass to move a small object from infinity to that point. The gravitational potential at infinity is zero, so the gravitational potential at any finite point is always negative.If a small object of mass m is moved from gravitational potential V1 to V2 the change in gravitational potential is ΔV = V2 - V1.