Minecart

Minecarts are rideable entities placed on rails that can be used to carry items, mobs, and the Player. They are used as a form of transportation to cover long distances, since they are much faster than walking. Additionally, they are used for recreation - intricate roller coasters have been created through clever track placement and design.

Minecarts are placed in the same manner as other blocks; however, they can only be placed on top of rails. Once placed, they may be derailed by pushing them off of the end of the track.

Crafting
Once placed, minecarts can be hit, which reverts them back to an item. This can be done even while they are being ridden. Swords and picks can do this in one hit with no decrease in durability; one arrow will do the same, but the arrow will be lost.

Basic minecart usage


Minecarts can be ridden by right-clicking them. Once inside, the player can move, but an external impulse (a powered minecart, powered rail, or other player) may be needed. It is possible to push the minecart yourself and then jump in. The player can slowly move the minecart while riding it, by using the direction keys. Mobs (notably tamed ocelots) can also push minecarts. You can now also move a minecart without an external push by holding the move forward key and facing the direction you want to go, but the speed will be slow.

Players can exit the minecart by right clicking it, however if there is only one block of headroom above the cart the player will take half a heart of suffocation damage as his head will be temporarily through the ceiling. When the minecart is right-clicked, it searches for an adjacent or diagonal 2x2x3 area to put the player 1.5 blocks away from the cart. If none is available, the player is deposited directly above the minecart. Consequently, the player falls inside the minecart. It is possible to interact with the environment while riding a cart, such as shooting a bow at enemies or laying down track in front of the minecart while it is moving.

After rolling off of the end of a track, a minecart can be pushed around on open blocks. If a minecart is pushed onto or falls onto tracks, it will "snap" to those tracks. A minecart will transfer any fall damage it suffers onto its rider, and will not be destroyed upon impact.

A minecart will stop dead when it encounters an arrow, whereas it will bounce off or fly past (if fast enough) a player.

If a mob is pushed into a rideable minecart, the mob will ride it, until being displaced by the player entering the cart, or when the world is quit and reloaded. For example, if a zombie is punched into a minecart sitting on a powered rail, and the rail is switched on, the zombie will start riding the minecart. However, mobs will NOT enter a minecart unless pushed in by a player (meaning that a creeper won't enter a minecart to chase you down).

Speed
Minecarts have a predefined speed limit of 8 m/s per axis of travel. (1 block = 1 meter; 8 m/s = 28.8 km/hr.) This means that a minecart traveling on two axes will travel faster; for example, a sufficiently boosted minecart traveling diagonally will move at 8 m/s on the x axis and 8 m/s on the z axis, resulting in an actual speed of 11.314 m/s. In this sense, diagonal cart physics follow taxicab geometry. This also applies to carts moving downhill (and uphill, if they have been properly boosted)

Boosting
Powered rails, while powered, will boost the speed of a minecart, and while not powered, will bring it to a halt. Maximum momentum can be attained immediately by using a double-stacked minecart in Minecraft 1.1 as shown here This no longer seems to work under 1.4 however.

Loss of speed
One unit of kinetic energy could be defined as the energy gained by a cart going down a one block slope, and lost by a cart when it goes up a one block slope. If a 45 degree downward slope is connected directly into an upward slope, an initial height of 60 blocks will result in a final height of 40 blocks, a loss of 20 units of potential energy. But if 20 sections of flat track are inserted between the slopes, the final height will be 35. This implies that one unit of energy is lost for every 4 sections of horizontal track traveled with an initial stored energy of between 60 and 40. At much lower speeds, much less energy is lost, implying that the energy lost is a percentage of the cart's current energy. The above gives about 0.5% energy loss per section of track. One implication of this is that more energy lost when the cart has more energy, so a gradual slope should allow you to travel much farther distances than a steep slope followed by a long flat section. (This is different from real-life physics, where friction does not increase with velocity. However, it may be an attempt to mirror air resistance, which is proportional to the square of velocity.).

Anything in the way of the minecart will take it to a dead stop, including: blocks, items, and mobs. Once a minecart has left the track, it will rapidly decelerate within one or two squares. It is possible to have a sufficiently boosted minecart "skip" over one square without a track, then rejoin the track at reduced energy later. When a mob touches a minecart they affect it in the same way a player would, i.e. mobs that move up against a still cart will set it in motion. When an empty minecart hits a mob, the mob will ride it.

If a minecart leaves your rendering distance it will lose all energy until it re-enters the rendering distance. Also, all minecarts will lose all energy when you leave the game and will render at the same point when you left. This could lead to stalling minecart loop boosters. This is untrue for servers even after restarting the server it should still be moving at the same pace it was before the restart, possibly due to a new physics upgrade in the coding around 1.4 or 1.5.

Merged minecarts
Merged minecarts are two or more minecarts merged. This can be done in various ways, one of which is putting a minecart on a 1-piece slope-track and letting another minecart fall on top of it. When minecarts are merged the player can still ride them. What makes them useful, however, is their odd way of losing speed. When coming off a track, merged minecarts initially lose their speed to around walking speed. But after first contact, they won't lose their speed anymore.

This way they can be used to cross certain distances when the player's only goal is to not actively walk towards the player's goal / target. Or when the player doesn't have enough resources to cover the complete distance, this measure can be considered. Note: for this concept to work, at least 3 minecarts will have to be merged. Doing this can detach the minecarts by pushing one off of the rails, or the one the Player is riding might get stuck on a tight turn. Speed may decrease when merged.

Unoccupied carts, incline and a boost
This table shows the distance traveled by an unoccupied minecart on an incline, with a boost (or no boost). The most efficient way is to use only 1 boost at the bottom of the incline on the flat surface. Using 2 will increase by about 20% or 1.5m. All distance trends based on the height seem to be logarithmic. The carts started from rest, on an incline (at Height).

Detecting minecarts
The detector rail is a switch activated by minecarts. It generates a Redstone charge when a minecart is on the rail.

Minecarts can also be detected when their corners run over pressure plates as they go around a curved track. The effect is similar to the detector rail, but can only occur at curves.

Collision
Minecarts seem to have about the same size as a block; 1x1. Because of this, a sign or door will prevent it from falling down a 1x1 hole. This can be utilized to make minecart dispensers, by stacking carts on top of each other and dispensing them with the help of a booster. A single cart dispenser using a door can also be made by using a sign to block the cart from falling off the door. As of snapshot 12w15a, minecarts can also be placed directly on rails using Dispensers.

Additionally, you can transport carts along 1 block wide water streams without the minecarts falling by placing signs underneath. By alternating the signs, items can still fall through. Because streams carry minecarts at a very slow rate, a trap can be made where anyone sitting in a cart will be suffocated in a block directly above the stream, and their items can be collected below.

Carts on minecart tracks will also ignore collision in certain situations. A cart traveling downhill or on a curve with a block placed in front of it will go through the block. If it is going fast enough, it can skip through one block and reattach to track on the other side, at significantly reduced speed.

A player riding in a minecart will not collide with or suffocate in any transparent blocks, including glass, half slabs, and leaves.

Special minecarts
There are currently five types of special minecarts:
 * Powered Minecart - A self-propelled minecart that is powered by coal.
 * Storage Minecart - A minecart that can store items like a standard chest.
 * Hopper Minecart - A minecart that contains a Hopper and can collect items from along the track or chests placed above the track.
 * TNT Minecart - A minecart that contains a block of TNT that can explode when primed by an Activator Rail.
 * Spawner Minecart - A minecart that contains a Monster Spawner and can spawn entities wherever it goes. Cannot be created without mods or external editors, but still functions in vanilla Minecraft.

Mojang has also released teaser images of another potential minecart, but it is not currently in the game:
 * Dispenser Minecart - A minecart which would presumably store and dispense up to 9 item stacks when powered with activator rails.

Minecart trains


To create a train, start with a fairly short length of straight track with an open ending on one side. Put a Powered minecart on the side nearest the open end, and then add storage minecarts or ridable minecarts along the rest of the track. Then, turn on your powered minecart. It will push the other minecarts as if it were a minecart train. Placing an additional powered minecart on the other end will allow you to make a two-way train, as minecarts currently only push other carts, not pull. If you are on a superflat world, there are a fairly large number of Slimes around. Kill the Slimes until you are left with a bunch of tiny ones. Hop in a minecart and the tiny slimes will push the minecart while trying to kill you. This is completely safe because tiny Slimes do not cause damage.

Bugs

 * In the latest snapshot (13w18c) You cannot get out of a minecart by right clicking. You have to break the minecart.
 * In the snapshot (13w16a) minecarts have a critical bug (MC-13829) that can prevent you from logging in to a server. Do not attempt to use in multiplayer on snapshot!
 * In some cases, in SSP, if you shoot an arrow with a bow with the enchantment Flame and lowest charging possible, when the arrow hits the minecart, it will burn forever, and is still rideable and illuminated at night. (Minecraft 1.2.5)
 * In many servers the use of a mine cart is extremely laggy. You may find when riding that the cart stops and starts suddenly and may become hard to control.
 * While in a minecart and holding a map, if the player opens their inventory the players left hand will be slightly glitched into appearing above the map. This also makes the right hand slightly toward the center of the screen when holding nothing.
 * When you fall in a minecart onto rails, you will receive fall damage upon exiting/the minecart leaving the track (tested on mobs in CSP)
 * A glitch can be achieved while pushing the minecart on a rail below a block (dirt, stone, etc.) with one side blocked, and if you sit in it, you won't be able to move, destroy the mine cart, or get out. You will take damage as you would under water if you were out of breath until you die and respawn (Minecraft 1.1).
 * Detonating TNT in close proximity to a minecart, even when doing so with the TNT submerged in water (such as a cannon), will often cause the minecart to disintegrate into numerous dropped minecarts.
 * If there is a saddled pig in a minecart in a two block high space and you get on it you will slowly suffocate to death and be able to see under the ground
 * Pigs can be ridden while in minecarts, although a saddle is needed. This gives you a self-propelling minecart. This still works in 1.4.2 so it is very useful for long voyages without Powered Rails.Player riding pig riding minecart pushed by powered minecart.png pig in a minecart rebounding off a powered minecart]]
 * Since Beta 1.5, water will not put out flaming minecarts.
 * Since Beta 1.7.3, going around a corner turning left in a 1-block-wide tunnel will cause suffocation damage. This can occur multiple times if going at a slow speed.
 * If a minecart is pushed onto a trapdoor with a track directly beneath it, the cart will glitch through the trapdoor and onto the rail.
 * For currently unknown reasons, it is possible for a minecart to hit full speed and rigorously travel across rails, climbing up large heights, traveling long distances, passing through any obstacles, then stopping after several minutes. Additionally, any minecarts nearby will be fired in the opposite direction (but not at quite with as much force)
 * When you click on a bed in a minecart you go to sleep and then wake up in your minecart.
 * Since Beta 1.8, it is possible to ride in minecart through a wall in creative.
 * Since Beta 1.8.1, in Creative mode you can get in a minecart at ridiculous distances, even through a wall, since the player had an infinite reach distance in Beta 1.8 before Beta 1.9 Pre-releases.
 * You can right-click into a minecart while falling and you will take no falling damage, however all accumulated falling damage will be taken when you exit. This can be fixed by logging out then back in while in the minecart.
 * A long fall into water whilst riding in a minecart will result in damage. Water does not cushion the fall like it does for normal falling.
 * In the release version, minecarts sitting on any block except for a rail will periodically fall through that block in SMP.
 * If the player is playing on superflat it is possible to glitch the minecart in such a way as to having an unstoppable minecart. This is done by getting several minecarts with mobs inside them merged on the track then placing water which gives them a push they will then move in one direction until stopped by a village or the player. Empty mine carts work just fine as well, the player can give them a push too.
 * If the game freezes or crashes while the player is in a minecart the cart may clone itself multiple times when the player logs back on.
 * While riding a minecart, looking down and behind under certain angles in first person view will cause the back of the minecart to rapidly blink (i.e. become transparent and opaque alternately).
 * If you attempt to go to the Nether while in a minecart, the game will crash and when you go back to Minecraft you will lose your inventory and be returned to your original spawn spot (even if you have a bed).
 * If you create a small, straight track (2 or 3 blocks) with solid blocks on either side of it, then place numerous minecarts onto the track so that there are more than could possibly fit. They will begin to move around and this will create a force field in a shape similar to a magnetic field with one loop on either of the two sides. Nothing, not even the player, can enter this force field. (Tested in SSP)
 * If you pass adjacent lava, minecart will catch on fire forever, and if you log out in this state in motion, will multiply your minecarts.
 * If you are in third person view and pass through a one block high space when riding in a minecart, It switches you back to first person view
 * If a sufficient amount of minecarts are placed onto 4x4 circle of rails and the one of the rails is cut, the minecarts will create a self-propelling cluster of minecarts.
 * As of 1.3.2. trying to "fish" a minecart (any kind) with a fishing rod, will destroy the minecart with, or with out a dropping an item.
 * If you right click to place a minecart and right click again (e.g. trying to get in a minecart, but clicking the wrong place) then when getting in the minecart and pressing w (attempting to go forewards) the minecart will go backwards with another also going backwards behind you (repeatable, tested in 1.3.2. creative mode with powered rails).
 * In Snapshot 12w38b(Confirmed in 1.4.2), an Invisibility Potion consumed while riding a minecart will not have a client-side effect on the player until he leaves the cart. Confirmed in SMP.
 * A skeleton or zombie riding a minecart will not burn in daylight, but still will get hurt and eventually die, just like in the Pocket Edition of Minecraft.(Tested in Single Player)
 * If you ride a minecart and it is derailed, and you then double tap jump to fly and then dismount the minecart it will not appear derailed until you touch the minecart. tested in 1.3.2. creative mode.
 * For players with old or integrated graphics cards, ever since the Beta 1.8 lighting update, minecart lighting has become glitchy. Minecarts will flash black seemingly at random even during day. This glitch also applies for chests and signs.
 * There is an amazing glitch where placing 3 rails along the North and South side, then placing more minecarts than can possibly fit, then having a piston one block away facing you activate send you to the X position 0. The minecart will be glitched and you will die in the Void. You cannot leave the minecart unless you are in Creative mode, in which case once you take damage at Y position -64 you can fly back up. (Tested in 1.2.5, 1.3.2, and 1.4.4.)
 * If the player looks in their inventory while in the minecart and has any kind of armor on, looking up reveals that the leggings are not on the player's legs while sitting in minecart, but rather below, in the same position it would be if the player were standing. Pressing also reveals that the minecart is hovering above the track and that the player's legs are sticking out the bottom.
 * If the player takes off their boots and leggings while sitting in a minecart, then the pants will be in sitting position, and when they get up they will stay in that position, leggings sticking out.

Trivia

 * Multiple minecarts in the same place can make them push each other, meaning that they can move without powered rails or even rails at all.
 * Endermen cannot teleport out of minecarts. They will try, but fail.
 * Minecarts appear to float above the track, as their model has no wheels.
 * Small slimes may be used to power a minecart by hitting it from behind. This strategy works fairly well, and can be used to power long minecart trains.
 * You can bump a medium slime in a minecart, and it can't attack you. However, a large slime can.
 * The large slime, large magma cube and ghast will completely cover a minecart.
 * A medium slime in a minecart has a small but powerful "Force Field" around it where you get pushed away, but not hurt.
 * Slimes in minecarts will divide if punched to death. This makes dividing slimes easy, as they can't move.
 * Minecarts automatically stored items until the storage minecart was put into the game.
 * Dropped items and skeleton arrows, if left on a track, will stop a minecart as if they were walls.
 * Tamed wolves will follow you when you are in a minecart.
 * If you view your inventory while riding in a minecart you will appear sitting down in mid-air.
 * The texture file, cart.png, features a large 'leather like' panel that used to be used as the bottom of the minecart when it contained items, back when minecarts were used to store items. However, it is now unused. MinecartStack.png
 * Minecarts can be set on fire, but the mob or player inside the minecart will not catch fire from a minecart.
 * Spiders can get "caught" in a minecart. On certain times of the day they can hurt you, but not always. A powered minecart cannot push the spider while the player and powered rails can. The spider cannot escape but it can look around.
 * The minecart can drive underwater if launched by rail and some air supplies underwater.
 * Spider Jockeys can propel themselves on flat surfaces and chase you.
 * Minecarts can be stacked onto each other.
 * Creepers can explode while in a minecart.
 * Minecarts can be dropped when the player shoots a fully charged arrow at it.