Infinity as Physical Unboundedness: An Empirical Necessary Condition for Irreversible Change

This paper proposes that physical infinity is not a realized quantity but a real, necessary condition of unboundedness—the absence of a global terminal constraint required for irreversible change to occur. Using a simple empirical example (an exploding seed pod), the work argues that releasing stored constraints is insufficient on its own; irreversible dispersal requires an available, unbounded domain into which components can separate without guaranteed return. The framework distinguishes between unbinding (the removal of constraints) and unboundedness (the condition that allows dispersal to be irreversible), and shows why finite or merely very large bounded systems inevitably permit recurrence. Observation is treated as a boundary-forming process that destroys correlations, explaining why original configurations cannot be reconstructed after dispersal. The theory does not introduce new forces, equations, or particles, but identifies unboundedness as a physically real necessary condition underlying irreversibility, time asymmetry, and the use of infinity in physical theory.