Negative thermal expansion is usually observed in non-close-packed systems with directional interactions (e.g. ice, graphene, etc.) and complex compounds (e.g. Cu 2 O, ZrW 2 O 8, beta-quartz, some zeolites, etc.). However, in a paper, it was shown that negative thermal expansion (NTE) is also realized in single-component close-packed lattices with pair central force interactions. The following sufficient condition for potential giving rise to NTE behavior is proposed for the interatomic potential, Π Π ( x ) , at the equilibrium distance a : Π Π ‴ ( a ) > 0 , where Π Π ‴ ( a ) is shorthand for the third derivative of the interatomic potential at the equilibrium point: Π Π ‴ ( a ) = d 3 Π Π ( x ) d x 3 | x = a