Quote Originally Posted by pgil
how am i losing PE as I approach the sun. as i get closer, the suns gravitational effect on me increases, increasing my PE. also increasing my KE. certainly there will be a point at which PE is no longer increasing, but until that point PE is being created.
Conventionally, potential energies have negative sign. As you approach the sun, the magnitude of your potential energy increases (i.e. the potential well gets deeper), but it is negative. To conserve energy, kinetic energy (which is positive) increases by the same amount.