Obsidian



Obsidian is a deep purple and black block. In the Overworld, Obsidian never actually spawns with the chunk, but is created by the environment. Obsidian is formed when flowing water hits a lava source block. Accordingly, it can be found naturally where water from a spring or lake has flowed over a nearby lava pool. In The End, solid pillars of obsidian can be found on the surface as well as in the obsidian platform. (It is one of the few blocks not destroyed by contact with the Enderdragon.) In the Nether, obsidian does not form naturally, but is created when a Nether Portal is spawned.

It is immune to nearly all explosions, the sole exceptions being a Wither's blue skull missiles. Obsidian can be used for blast-resistant buildings, for decorative purposes, or to create Nether Portals. It is also used in several advanced crafting recipes:  The Enchantment Table, Ender Chest, and Beacon Block.

Obsidian can only be successfully mined with a diamond pickaxe. Each obsidian block takes 9.8 seconds to mine when using an ordinary diamond pickaxe (Efficiency III, 4.5s; Efficiency V, 2.5s). With any other tool or none, it takes 4 minutes and 10 seconds to break it, but does not drop a block.

Usage

 * Igniting the interior of a 4x5 vertical rectangle made of Obsidian will create a Nether Portal.
 * Obsidian is often used as a griefing block due to its long mining time and contrasting appearance against most other blocks.
 * On the opposite end, it is a good material to make a home or other structure out of if you want your building protected on a multiplayer server. This will deter most griefers since obsidian takes a while to mine with a diamond pickaxe, and will take even longer without it.
 * Obsidian can be used to build explosion resistant shelters. At 6,000, Obsidian's explosion resistance rating is second only to Bedrock, End Portal Frame, and End Portal, with the same resistance as an Enchantment Table, and twice that of an Ender Chest. It is therefore an exceptionally desirable construction material for making defensive structures, in both SSP or SMP, as it is effectively impervious to Lava, explosions, and Ender Dragons.
 * Building and testing of structures used to set off explosives, such as a TNT cannon, or an explosive defense.
 * Obsidian is used to craft Enchantment Tables, Ender Chests, and Beacon Blocks.

Obsidian Mining
This starts out with a lava pool, which may have been flooded by naturally produced water, or can be similarly flooded by a bucket-wielding player. Mining the resulting layer of obsidian can be rather hazardous, since there will likely be more lava beneath the obsidian. However, further use of water buckets can make the process fairly safe.

First, look for the edge of the obsidian "lake", and dig a one block deep hole under which there is no lava. Place the water source in this hole, and mine outward from there. When you expose lava, the water will quench it so quickly that the lava usually won't even burn your newly-mined obsidian. Then continue mining outward from the spring as far as the water will travel, after which you can move the water. This lets you stand on solid blocks rather than in running water.

If finding the edge is difficult or inconvenient, you can instead place a water block over the obsidian, and mine through the water. Once you've mined that first block, you can move your water block into the hole, and continue mining outward as above.

Once you've mined the top layer of obsidian, you can simply continue downwards to the next layer.

It is also possible to simply use the water bucket as you work, placing water to quench lava sources as they're exposed -- this may be necessary if you are mining horizontally into a wall. Make sure to have an infinite water source nearby, in case you place the water incorrectly and cannot scoop it back up. It's also preferable to have a backup bucket in case you panic and find yourself in lava.



Farming and Casting
See also: Tutorials/Obsidian Farming


 * Lava blocks can be bucketed and placed into suitable molds, then flooded to cast structures in place. (This is not renewable.)
 * A Nether Portal can be used to create obsidian renewably, by creating a new exit portal which can then be mined. An End Portal can also be used similarly, as it regenerates its obsidian platform.)
 * The "Infiniobsidian" glitch allows converting redstone dust into obsidian: When redstone dust is next to flowing water, and lava then flows over it, the redstone turns into obsidian.  (It will usually be necessary to block the lava from flowing into the water.)  Since redstone can be gotten by trading and killing witches, this is technically renewable.  (Note that the lava and water are used as catalysts, but are not consumed.)  This can also be used to create structures in place.

Trivia

 * Even though Obsidian is the second hardest block to destroy in Minecraft, in reality obsidian is glasslike in texture and fragility (it is black or blackish in color).
 * The misconception of obsidian's hardness may be due to its use during the Stone Age in blades and arrow tips -- while fragile, it can be chipped into extremely sharp edges.
 * Its main component is silicon dioxide (SiO2), more commonly found in quartz. Unlike quartz, obsidian has no crystal structure -- it is literally a natural glass.
 * It is produced when a suitable type of lava cools quickly (usually in water). Unlike in Minecraft, in the real world obsidian (being an extrusive igneous rock) is often found above ground.
 * Obsidian portals created by the game always have corner blocks, but these can be mined without affecting the portal. If an exit portal is floating in midair, the game will add two blocks of obsidian to each side along the bottom row, increasing the "free" obsidian from the new portal to eight.
 * Destroying an underwater obsidian block with a diamond pickaxe, without standing on solid ground, would take 3 minutes and 54 seconds. (Without, it takes 4 minutes and 10 seconds, like normal.)  Either way, the player will run out of air long before the block is mined.
 * Obsidian, unlike most blocks, cannot be moved by Pistons (normal or sticky).
 * Obsidian is one of the three blocks that cannot be broken by Ender Dragons. The other two are End Stone and Bedrock.
 * Obsidian is one of only three solid blocks that can appear naturally in more than one dimension, the others being Bedrock and Gravel. It is also the only block found in all three dimensions.
 * If you switch your language setting to Pirate English, it will name the obsidian block: "Rock o' Tears", referring to the unimplemented Crying Obsidian.
 * Obsidian can be found in groups of 3-7 in chests in NPC Villages.
 * Here is how mining time works: Obsidian has a base time of 75 seconds to mine.  A diamond pickaxe mines at 8 times basic speed, which brings it to 9.8 seconds.  The diamond pickaxe is also the "proper tool" for this block, so without it, mining takes 3 1/3 times longer, that is 4 minutes and 10 seconds. (See Digging)
 * Obsidian is most commonly found on layer 10, where environmental water flows onto natural lava lakes.
 * It is a common misconception that enough TNT will destroy Obsidian. Even though its explosion resistance rating is finite, additional TNT or other explosives will have no more effect on an individual block than the first. Thus, this cannot be done without mods.  (It would take 71.25 times the explosive power of a single block of TNT to destroy a block of obsidian.)  Note that the "Blue Wither Skull"'s ability to destroy obsidian is a special feature.
 * Notch once planned to make floating masses of land require Obsidian veins to stay afloat. However, he later stated on Twitter that he didn't like the idea anymore, so it's unlikely that this will be implemented.