REVERSIBILITY
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2874 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
The character of a process whose direction of change can be reversed by a suitable alteration, however small, of the (generalized) force applied to produce the change. (Adapted from A. LOTKA, 1956, p.23)
Reversibility is a purely abstract concept. The direction of change can be reversed… but only through an irreversible movement from a former to a later state.
In real processes, any action causes some dissipation of energy, however small, i.e. “its conversion into heat at the temperature of the surroundings” (Ibid). Thus the 2d law of thermodynamics is the impassable barrier against reversibility, as stated for instance by F. HEYLIGHEN: “Reversibility is equivalent to the non-increase of entropy (i.e. the non-decrease of information)” (1989, p.369).
Moreover, any process of change, even a reversal one, supposes a lag in time, which also is in accordance with the 2d law.