Odwracalny

Odwracalny is an adjective in Polish meaning able to be reversed or returned to its original state. In everyday usage it describes processes, transformations or operations that can be undone without lasting or cumulative changes. The corresponding noun is odwracalność, and the opposite term is nieodwracalny (irreversible) or irreversibility, depending on context.

In mathematics, odwracalny refers to objects that possess an inverse. A function f: X → Y is odwracalny if there exists a function g: Y → X such that g(f(x)) = x for all x in X; equivalently, f is bijective. In linear algebra, a matrix is odwracalny (invertible) when its determinant is nonzero, in which case one can find an inverse matrix. In computational contexts, an algorithm or transformation is odwracalny if its inverse transformation exists and uniquely recovers the input from the output.

In science, odwracalny appears in chemistry and thermodynamics. A reakcja odwracalna (reversible reaction) proceeds in both directions, with reactants converting to products and products reforming reactants; at equilibrium the forward and reverse reaction rates are equal. A proces odwracalny (reversible process) in thermodynamics is an idealized, quasi-static change that can be reversed with no net entropy change to the system and surroundings. In practical terms, true reversibility is an abstraction, while real processes are typically irreversible.

Usage notes: odwracalność denotes the quality of being reversible or invertible, while nieodwracalność refers to irreversibility. The term spans mathematics, science, and everyday language, where it characterizes the possibility of returning to a prior state.