Block

Minecraft is composed of and built entirely of blocks. You dig through blocks, you build with blocks, your character is made of blocks; they are everywhere. Blocks have different variables to them but, for the most part, they all fall in specific categories that can be seen on the Main Page.

Types of Block
There currently are 50 different types of blocks (including Air, still Water, still Lava and blocks which aren't buildable at the moment, see Map Editing (hex) for the full list).

In a standard randomly generated Map you can find the blocks Stone, Grass, Dirt, Water, Lava, Sand, Gravel, Gold ore, Iron ore, Coal, Tree, Leaves, yellow and red Flowers and brown and red Mushrooms.

In Survival you can obtain Dirt, Cobblestone from Stone, Wood from Tree, Gold from Gold ore, Iron from Iron ore, Stair from Coal, white Cloth from Sheep and at the beginning you get 10 TNT blocks.

In Creative you can build Stone, Dirt, Cobblestone, Mossy Cobblestone, Wood, Plant, Sand, Gravel, Ores, Tree, Leaves, Sponge, Glass, Cloth, Flowers, Mushrooms, Gold, Iron, Stair, Brick, TNT, Bookcase and Obsidian. Operators of servers can also build Bedrock. Some custom servers give the ability to place Grass and (still) Fluids, too.

Air
Air is the absence of a block. Due to its ability to be located on the map anywhere above or below ground, it must be treated as a block by map editing software. Air is totally transparent, fills any space which does not contain a block, and cannot be affected, except by its replacement with a block. Looking directly up at ground level through air, is the sky. The sky is blue, and features thematically blocky renditions of clouds.

Stone


Stone is the first of the basic building blocks. It's normally found near the surface and goes deep underground. It's by far the most common block. It produces cobblestone if mined with a wooden pickaxe or better. It sometimes has gold, iron or coal deposits inside it when below ground, diamond deposit can be also found in the indev version. New block can be crafted by smelting cobblestone in a furnace. It can also be formed by water and lava coming into contact with each other. It is not affected by gravity.

Grass


Grass is a common block that is on the ground on newly generated maps. It looks like a dirt tile with grass on the top. It requires sunlight to continue to exist and will revert to dirt slowly if sunlight is removed. Dirt will also change to grass over time if there is another grass block next to it and it's receiving sunlight. Also if the grass is flooded by water, it will slowly disappear. If there are no grass blocks on the map then grass will cease to spawn entirely. Grass is unable to be created directly by players. See the visual guide below for more details.

Grass and dirt changing between each other is a common cause of chunk updates.

Dirt


Dirt is a common building block seen when a player first enters the world on a new map. It is often the first few layers of blocks below grass. It is the second most common block. When adjacent to a grass block and receiving sunlight, it can turn into grass itself. It is not affected by gravity.

Cobblestone
Cobblestone is a darker block, often looking like a roughly paved area. This block doesn't occur naturally on it's own, but makes great walls for constructions such as castles, towers and roads. In survival mode, you obtain cobblestone by mining stone. There is an alternative version of the block known as Mossy Cobblestone.

Cobblestone was removed in 0.0.19a, but returned in 0.0.20a. It was removed due to lack of room in the UI. Because of its dark color it was often used in pixel art to represent darker colors until other, darker blocks like black cloth and obsidian appeared.
 * History

Wood
Wood is a block that is not found in a map naturally, it has to be created by players. It appears as a series of interconnected planks. It is good for creating a support style for your buildings and also making huts and shacks. You can obtain wood by breaking tree blocks and placing them into a crafting box in indev or by simply breaking tree blocks in survival.

Bedrock
Not to be confused with Solid blocks Bedrock is the unbreakable stone found at each extent of the map except the ceiling. It occurs both naturally, and can be created by admins and ops (with the command /solid). The natural variant cannot be destroyed, nor built on, but 'admin stone' can be destroyed by other ops. For a larger profile picture, see [[Media: Unbreakable.png|here]]


 * Other Names

Bedrock is often called Admin blocks, admincrete, adminium, adminite, and various other words that start with "admin" or "op" and end with various mineral endings like ium and ite. It may also be referred to as "Op block" or "Unbreakable block", amongst a few other terms. and is never used but sometimes found at the end of an indev (in development) mode level.

Water


Water is a substance that cannot be placed by the player. On newly-generated maps, water is common at ocean level in the form of lakes. It also appears in pools underground and lakes above ground.

Water spreads horizontally and downwards by duplicating itself to empty squares. Water spreads faster than the speed of a walking player, and if left alone covers everything at or below the level the water started at if there is a direct connection. Water is transparent and slows down the player if it is moving through it. Water cannot spread within a five-by-five area of sponge (two blocks on each side, with the sponge at its center); this enables it to be cleaned up quickly using sponges.

The texture for water was changed in the 0.0.19a client update on June 20, 2009 and is now animated.

In Survival mode, water is much deeper and you start to drown after your 15-second air gauge is eliminated. Water is also soft -- falling from any height into water will not hurt you.

Though it cannot be placed by the player in single-player Creative or Survival mode, it can be placed in some multiplayer levels by typing the command /set w. There was also a water maker block in Indev mode, but has since been removed in newly-generated maps. However, they can still be placed in a map editor such as Omen.

Water tends to be harder to deal with on non-creative modes. The easiest solution on indev is to block the water's entrance and slowly drain the room. Although you can prevent the rooms from flooding entirely by using Airlocks.
 * Management

Lava
Lava is a substance only found underground in pools. It can be almost anywhere underground on a newly-generated map. It is also found on the bottom of the map.

Like water, lava spreads by duplicating itself to open horizontal and downwards squares. Lava is slower, though, and can be easily outrun. If quick enough, a player can block the flow of lava. If the lava wave is large enough though, a player may not be able to build fast enough. Also like water, lava slows down the player moving through it but it does so to a greater extent. Lava is also more opaque than water and is harder to see through. If water and lava collide, stone is created. This "technique" can be used to manipulate water and lava.

Lava's texture was changed in the 0.0.19a client update on June 20, 2009 and is now animated.

In the survival game mode, lava takes 5 of the player's hitpoints for every second they are exposed to it because it lights you on fire and is extremely hard to put yourself out. It is unknown if it is possible to drown in lava, as the damage the player takes while swimming inside the lava is often enough to kill the player within a second, even when constantly healing himself. In Indev, if the Hell theme is chosen, most water is replaced with lava.

Sand


Sand is a fairly common block, often found near water on new maps. Like gravel this block is affected by gravity and will fall to the lowest solid block in the z-coordinate it is placed in. In Indev, sand blocks can be used in a furnace to create glass.

In Indev mode, on a floating islands map you will occasionally find floating platforms of sand and/or gravel connecting the islands. However removing a floating sand/gravel block or adding a block to it causes all the sand to fall to the ground.

Sand can be used in conjunction with torches to create self-sealing hallways; See Airlock

Sand was removed at revision 0.0.19a, but returned in version 0.0.20a. It was removed due to lack of room in the UI.
 * History

A glitch was present in Single Player for quite some time that caused water to flood from blocks affected by gravity if placed against a wall but not on the ground. The bug has since been fixed.

Gravel
Gravel is a common block on new maps, it is found underwater. Like sand is also affected by gravity and will fall to the lowest solid block in the z-coordinate it is placed in. Mining it can drop flint as of 2/19/2010 in indev.

Gravel can be used in conjunction with torches to create self-sealing hallways; See Airlock

A glitch was present in Single Player for quite some time that caused water to flood from blocks affected by gravity if placed against a wall but not on the ground. The bug has since been fixed.
 * History



Gold
''This page is about the ore. For the solid gold block, see Gold (block).'' Gold ore is commonly found inside stone blocks underground. It can be mined for ore using an iron pickaxe or better. The ore can be smelted in a furnace to create gold bars.

It can be placed in creative mode as of version 0.28 and it drops 1 to 3 gold blocks in Survival.

Iron


Iron is a mineral commonly found inside stone blocks underground or in cliffs as shown in the picture. Currently its only function is to give the player an iron block if mined. It was introduced in Creative mode in update 0.28.

In Indev, iron ore can be smelted in a furnace to make an iron ingot; iron ingots are used to make all the medium quality tools: armor, arrows and Flint and Steel.

A list of craftable items can be found here.

Coal
Coal is a mineral commonly found inside stone blocks underground. A lump of coal can be mined from it using a wooden pickaxe or better. Combined with a stick it can be crafted into a torch or be used as fuel in a furnace.

As of now in Survival mode, it gives the player 1 to 4 stair blocks. In creative mode it can be placed by players as of 0.28.

Trunk
''This page is about the block type. For the structure, see tree (structure)'' The Tree block is the trunk of the tree; brown on the sides and light brown in the middle. It's found in a level as part of the trees that litter the landscape, with this block being the trunk and leaves making the foliage. They are sometimes used for lining doors and making wooden poles. It is not affected by gravity, nor does the block allow light to pass through it. It is solid. May be crafted into planks.

Leaves


Leaves make up the foliage of trees and can be found on newly generated maps. Players sometimes use this block for making tree houses, and it was also used as a glass replacement in pre-glass times. As leaves are partially see-through, the block allows light to shine through it. It is not affected by gravity.

In Survival Mode, players cannot place leaves. When destroyed, leaves sometimes drop saplings. In indev, when a tree's trunk is chopped down, the leaves that aren't resting on other blocks start to disappear, sometimes dropping saplings as they go.

In the Playtest, leaves that are hit on the top by direct sunlight changes the sunlight underneath them from 9 to 4. Leaves are also very flammable.

Sponge
Sponge's main properties that separate it from other building materials is sponge erases water within a 5*5*5 area, with the sponge block at its center. Because of this, sponge is an ideal material for unflooding caverns and keeping water out of tunnels. Players should keep in mind that the way the sponge works is just a temporary hack until finite water comes out. Sponge is only available in creative mode.


 * History

Sponge is a type of building block added in the update to 0.0.19a client update on June 20th, 2009.

Sponge is not affected by gravity, unlike sand, and it will not fall if a block is deleted underneath it. Sponges do not need light to survive, and do not decay (sponges used to decay in the implementation of the 0.0.19a update, but this was changed within 50 minutes of the release)
 * Properties

Sponge can be used as the corner pillar of a room such that they are invisible from inside, as shown in image opposite. This can confuse and slow down griefers when attempting to flood an underground development, leaving more time for them to be caught and stopped. In small rooms, this measure, when implemented in every vertex of said space, can stop that room flooding altogether.
 * As an anti-griefing measure

Cloth


Cloth was added Saturday, June 20th, as of update 0.0.20a. Cloth is a block meant to represent colors in the color spectrum, intended to aid in the creation of Minecraft Art. Currently, there are thirteen colors, not including black, white, and gray.


 * Properties

Cloth is not affected by gravity, and will not fall if blocks below them are removed, it does not allow light to pass though it. Cloth is flammable.

Stair
Stairs are a new block, found in Survival only after breaking down Coal. Instead of making the player jump, it simply lifts them half of a block and on top of the stair or the block after it. Upon being stacked by another, it becomes a full block. Breaking it down only gives you one instead of two, requiring the player to be resourceful.

In /indev/ mode, coal yields chunks that can be made into torches. Stairs are instead made with cobblestone, via crafting.

Brick
Brick is a new block found in 0.28_01 update.

Brick is currently only available in Creative and is used mainly for brick houses and indoors (e.g. chimneys).

TNT
TNT or Trinitrotoluene, acts like a normal block in Creative. However, in Survival it behaves like the Creeper's explosion. Upon being struck by the player, it will start smoking and flashing white. If there are no blocks to hold up the TNT block, activating it will make it affected by gravity and it will fall. After a few seconds, it explodes, destroying a vast amount of blocks, mobs that are nearby, and even the player if they are not careful. Hitting it a second time in survival will stop the countdown and make it so you can pick it up to use later. TNT can clear water and lava. Setting TNT on fire causes it to explode. However, if the TNT falls in water, the explosion will not destroy any blocks at all but still cause damage to the player.

TNT will damage surrounding blocks depending on what blocks are directly touching it or not. Empty space will create a larger destructive radius, while a TNT block completely surrounded by rock will destroy an exact 3x3x3 square from it's center.

This trick can be abused to mine out long 3x3x3 hallways without using your valuable pickaxe charges.

Bookcase
The Bookcase is a new block. It does not serve a purpose - it is simply decoration. It has books on all 4 horizontal sides, and Wood on the rest.

Obsidian
Obsidian is a type of block found in the update 0.28_01. It is coloured dark purple and blue.

Obsidian is never to be found in a generated map. It was originally thought that obsidian was cooled lava, which could emerge if it collides with water, however stone is actually created.

In Survival mode, Obsidian takes longer to mine than any other material. Unfortunately it only gives you one cobblestone block.

In one version of Indev, obsidian blocks were used to mark the positions of the cardinal directions. This created two intersecting planes extending just above the surface of the solid material that surrounds them. Now, it appears they have been removed, replacement is unknown.

Obsidian may cause things to float.

Mossy Cobblestone
Mossy Cobblestone is almost the same as normal Cobblestone, the only difference being that it is covered in moss. It is often used in combination with normal cobblestone to make buildings look old and like ruins. It is currently unavailable to get in survival mode. It will probably spread to other cobblestones in future versions making it act similar to grass.

Fire
Fire is currently in Indev Mode. It is created using "Flint and Steel". Fire catches onto anything flammable in a certain area. The following items currently are flammable:
 * Wood [[Image:Minecraftfireblock.png|thumb|Right|alt=The Minecraft fire block|The Minecraft fire block''.]]
 * Bookcase
 * Leaves
 * Cloth
 * TNT (Explodes when caught on fire)

When water comes in contact with fire, it will put it out. Left Clicking on fire will put it out also. The player and other mobs can catch on fire too, if you catch on fire you will receive half damage every second. If you come in contact with Water you will be put out. Fire creates light as well. Fire requires wood to be next to it to survive, fire dies out after time. Leaves burn the fastest.

Torch
Torch is a type of block only found in indev, version 0.31. It's the only brick in the game which consists of a non-square or two plane model. It is also one of the few blocks that emit light, the others being lava, furnaces and fire. In addition, it adjusts its model in relation to the surrounding bricks, so that it looks like it's attached to any surrounding walls. Notch has said that torches will soon only be temporary sources of light, and that they will burn out over time.




 * Interesting Properties

Torches also act as a full square, for the purpose of placing other objects or torches in the same area. Being a solid brick, this even prevents sand from falling down past a square with a torch on it. Making it possible to build a roof completely out of sand!

Since torches support sand, they can be used to create the only environment based trigger in the game. See Airlock. Crafting
 * See also

Chest
Chest Blocks can hold 27 items, such as blocks and tools, and the items inside will never disappear. It is only available on the indev mode, but will probably be added to Survival and other modes. A large chest can be made by putting together two chests and holds 54 stacks. Chests can be placed like any other block, but cannot be placed next to large chests. To obtain a Chest, you have to Craft it by using 8 wood blocks in a square shape. It cannot be opened if there are any block on top of it. Chests cannot be burnt. Destroying a chest with items still inside will yield the chest piece back again, along with any items contained in it.

Crafting
 * See also

???
Others entities like ore blocks, mushroom and decorations item should be here. Please see talk page for further information.