Talk:Lava/Archive 1

Lava flow rules when going over an edge: random?
It says in the wiki: Lava flows three blocks when placed on flat ground. Lava flows four blocks when placed in the air above flat ground.

What happens to lava that flows over an edge? I observe inconsistent behavior. Sometimes it flows three blocks and sometimes it flows four.

I constructed a flow channel, 1 block wide, with 1 a block drop every four blocks. It has ten levels for a total of 40 blocks in length. The lava always makes it past the first level because I start it one block in the air, causing a four block flow. After that it goes farther down the channel, but it only rarely reaches the bottom, usually coming to a stop at one of the drop edges in the channel.

Is this behavior intended to be random? Does it behave like this on your server? Does bending its path have any effect on the distance it flows?

Data value
According to this wiki page it's 35. In Cartograph is use the "only" feature to find lava on my world but shows cloth instead. So what is the data value for lava? -- 20:07, 29 September 2010 (UTC)


 * You could always check . And yes the template has a few bugs. –The preceding undated comment was added on 22:01, 29 September 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * It's 10 for moving, 11 for still. 23:52, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Lava as ultimate weapon.
I would add this to the article.

Having a bucket with lava is ultimate weapon.

By quickly putting it in front of any mob and then gathering it you are able to kill it instantly without wasting the loot. 22:05, 16 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Bad idea. As the items will burn up before you can even collect them, i say that it is a really, really stupid idea to do. And please say who you are when you're done. (type in this letter -> ~ <- four times in the end) 19:57, 29 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, it worked at the time I was testing this. You could literally put the lava on the ground and quickly collect it. Loot would survive. 22:05, 16 February 2011 (UTC)


 * If you picked up the lava before it spreads sure it is a valid weapon. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 00:09, 5 June 2011. Please sign your posts with

Getting lava to reproduce itself
I have been able to make lava reproduce - one bucket of source lava into the top square of a hole two deep, can then be collected back out again a number of times - collecting only the top square of lava, and waiting for it to regrow.

If some more people can reproduce this, we can put it in the article. I can do this on Alpha v1.1.2_01 16:44, 13 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I've also seen claims of infinite lava in a Youtube video detailing an infinite obsidian farm. This is done by placing a lava source block hovering above a half-step block. Reproducible? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gyl1MNfZSU 16:53, 13 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I tried, but I couldn't find the actual construction. The infinite lava machine was kinda skipped over in the description, and I couldn't get a few designs to work. 02:47, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I just tried to reproduce both of these methods and neither correctly produces infinite lava in single player. Additionally, the linked video looks like it was made in multiplayer since there's chat messages and there's a known issue with . That's likely the real culprit for the infinite lava tricks, not half-blocks or special holes. 23:57, 13 October 2010 (CDT)


 * Yep, my behaviour fits the bug listed, and occurs only in multiplayer 04:07, 16 October 2010 (CDT)


 * I'm seeing lava source blocks created when three lava source blocks flow into each other. Has anyone else seen this? -- 18:49, 12 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Lava DOES NOT reproduce. Confirmed fact. Period. -- 16:35, 10 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Actually, I've reproduced lava by making a 3x1x1 container, filling all 3, then taking from the middle one, works with water too –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  09:10, 22 May 2012. Please sign your posts with


 * you can always make a three long trench and put lava on both ends of the trench and only collect the middle block(also works with water) –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  (&#124;) 19:34, 18 June 2012. Please sign your posts with


 * This doesn't work in vanilla Minecraft; lava source blocks do not reproduce. -- 08:07, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Lava Flow Direction
Lava placed on a flat section of ground flows in all 4 directions, but if you place a hole in the ground up to 5 squares it will only flow towards the closest hole (even if it will not get there as lava only flows 4 squares)

This can be used to limit the direction of the flow but you can not remove flow by digging a hole it only limits new flow. (this is the same as water) -- 18:25, 21 October 2010 (CDT)


 * Although lava doesn't reproduce naturally, using a duplication glitch still working in 1.8.1, it CAN be duplicated. Here's how: Fill a bucket with lava. Throw the bucket of lava on the ground (Q). Click esc. and Save and Quit to title. Click single player and go back into the game. Collect the bucket of lava. Click esc. again and wait for the game to save, then close out of the window. Log back into minecraft and there should now be two buckets of lava. Now, throw BOTH of them on the ground and repeat the process until you have as much lava as you need. This works with any miniblock (not just buckets of lava). -Chase –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  01:01, 25 September 2011. Please sign your posts with

Lava as lighting
Lava makes for some cool lighting for ones home. Just add lava, cover the exposed surface with glass, and you got a perfectly viable lighting source! Great for the upcoming. - –The preceding undated comment was added on 23:27, 26 October 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * I have a question on that regarding wood. Will the wood burn if i place a lava source between stone and then above a layer of wood with glass directly above the lava? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 20:12, 26 November 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * Ok, i have tested this now and it seems that, if builded as said, the wood will not burn but if only one block is not placed (even it is one of the wood diagonal above the lava) then it will catch fire. Also i would like to see this use of lava in the article. I would write it by myself but i think that on the one hand my english is not that enough and on the other i am totally unexperienced with any kind of wiki. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 21:11, 26 November 2010. Please sign your posts with

Spring
In the spring section it states that lava removed with a bucket will not be refilled by the lava around it, but upon removing a bucket of lava from the corner of a still pool of lava in Alpha, both adjacent still lava blocks became flowing lava blocks in the direction of the hole, and the removed lava block was filled with a diagonally flowing lava block. It seems pretty logical, is this abnormal behavior? -- 16:36, 25 November 2010 (CST)
 * But it won't create a lava source block like it would with water. 22:42, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
 * OK, that makes sense. I think I'll reword that section so that it's more clear, as right now it says the space "won't be refilled" which isn't entirely true.  22:47, 25 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed, that comment didn't make sense -- there's a difference between not creating another spring and leaving a hole. I've cleaned that section up a bit to make it clear that lava springs don't duplicate like water but without that confusing 'leaving a hole' bit. -- 22:51, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Lava surface
I have noticed that all natural caves (except pools) are filled by lava at level 11 or lower, yet i did not see this written in the article. Should i add this? Edit: forgot signature -- 18:24, 28 January 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure that's true, but you probably know better than I. Add it and see if anyone contests you. 20:01, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Lava as protection
You can use lava to protect your buildings. Should this be in trivia or not? 20:00, 29 January 2011 (UTC)
 * That's kind of obvious. I don't think we need to include this in the trivia. That's like saying you can use to make windows :| -- 20:07, 29 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Why didn't someone tell me this earlier!? All this time I've been using glass to make my windows, like a sucker. Now I just need to find me some of them air blocks. – ( at 22:31, 29 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Captain Obvious is obvious. Yeah, you can but its really unsafe, as fluid as lava will go through it, as with the other fluids. Last time i used air as bloody windows, it costed me a house, together with a lot of diamond. At least its a better idea than having it as a weapon of mass destruction, as it is rather of self-destruction. 15:16, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Mixing Lava with water
Is it possible for Lava to mix with water? and if so, what happens? does one overwhelm the other? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 14:07, 28 March 2011. Please sign your posts with
 * 1. Yes, it's possible. 2. It's ON THE LAVA PAGE what happens. 3. TRY IT next time. 4. Sign your posts. 14:52, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Difference between Lava and Stationary Lava
Lava has two IDs, 10 for "Lava" and 11 for "Stationary/Still Lava". Exporting a test case (flowing lava, falling lava, single-block lava pool) using WorldEdit and then looking into the schematics file, I noticed that all blocks seem to be stationary blocks, even the flowing ones. So, what's the difference between lava and stationary lava? Does non-stationary lava even exist in-world? 18:39, 2 April 2011 (UTC)


 * The flowing liquids generate after world, chunk updates. 18:52, 2 April 2011 (UTC)


 * lava will only spawn level 12 or lower. A block of lava is able to spawn above level 12 if the lava fall it creates reaches to level 12 or lower. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 19:43, 18 June 2012. Please sign your posts with


 * False. Caves and ravines are filled with lava up to layer 11. Lava lakes and springs can generate at any level, and make no check for how far down it will flow. -- 08:07, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Lava vs TNT page about "embers"
On the Lava page it is said that the "embers" flying out from lava are "purely decorative and do not directly cause fires". But on the TNT page it is said "Embers from lava will set off TNT" which sounds like they do have some kind of effect to the nearby blocks.

So they effect is limited to TNTs, or maybe they do have a small effect on any flammable blocks? 16:08, 5 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I wrote that text — it was a common myth that embers cause fire, but lava just causes fire randomly around flammable blocks independently of the embers. I just tested the behavior of TNT: it appears to be triggered by being set on fire. — 12:14, 4 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree, this has happened to me. -- 12:26, 4 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Ok then. :) 16:08, 5 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Can somebody who has seen the code for this behaviour please clarify? I have noticed since I started playing (Beta 1.2_02) that I catch fire simply by standing around lava in a cave (No flammable blocks, disproving KPReid's statement) - but only if there's an ember nearby. I have observed this many times, and can post a video if requested. I only play SMP, by the way. 09:40, 6 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Know about the South/West rule and corner lava glitches? -- 05:00, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Hi guys, I need a bit of help. made a house out of wood, stone and glass and put lava in the middle. all the lava on the bottom floors is concealed but the top is not, i use it to throw items i don't need into it. I figured the lava burnt my top floor so i made my top floor with my lava completely concealed. it still burnt my top floor down. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 02:32, 16 April 2011. Please sign your posts with


 * If you put lava in the middle, i assume you put glass around it, and it goes down each level, right? Well, I suggest you use stone instead of wood for your floors. Lava catches wood on fire. In my world, I have an entire room make of stone with an iron door, and there's a lava stream in which i use to deposit my waste items. In a nutshell: Only use wooden floors far away from lava.

Also, this talk page is about the article itself not about help, so i suggest you go on the Minecraft Forums to ask about this. If you want you can go to my talkpage if you want help from me, though. Cheers, -- 02:46, 16 April 2011 (UTC)


 * What I don't understand is that there were no openings for the lava and my top floor still burnt down, there was glass all over my lava and there was no way for lava to get out. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 14:38, 16 April 2011. Please sign your posts with
 * I'm assuming the code doesn't check for blocks in between Lava and the flammable blocks, just distance. -- 05:00, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Transparency
I'm pretty sure lava isn't transparent. I set up a floating ball of it above a base a while back, and it cast a shadow. Has this changed in the past few months? -- 18:56, 21 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Swim in it. then you will see. (no pun intended) -- 05:01, 20 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Ghasts can see through it, too, but they cannot see through glass. -- baryon, 07:41, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Infinite Lava Bug (Singleplayer)
Just found that by accident, but there's a way to reproduce lava sources as of Beta 1.5_01, to reproduce the bug, fill a hole with lava, press escape to bring up the menu, wait for the message "Saving Level" to go away, press escape again, pick up the source with a bucket, and then Alt+F4 out of the game, relaunch the game, the level hasn't been saved and the lava is still in the hole, but the bucket is in your inventory, full of lava, I didn't try for anything else but this might work for any item in the game. Can anyone confirm? 22:50, 21 April 2011 (UTC)


 * The map isn't saved when java crashes (or you end its process), only the inventory is. This can be done with anything. – ( at 04:54, 22 April 2011 (UTC)


 * This doesn't work on version 12.1.2.0
 * Matt ( 04:06, 15 April 2012 (UTC))

Issue with the page
Noticed this was a bit wrong - I am going to fix it and post a vid for a tutorial showing that the edit I am making is correct in the citations at the bottom. Later this week I will make a much shorter video with just the facts and no off color commentary, but it is finals week, so this is it for now. I am not a wiki-er but I use this enough I thought it might be nice to help! :) 20:14, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Nice thing you are doing something, but letting us know what would be great too. What "this"? -- 16:40, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Burning Pattern
Could someone add to the page detailing lava's burn distance/pattern? meaning how far away a wood block has to be to be safe from being ignited by nearby lava –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 01:18, 3 November 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * I read on another page on the wiki that flammable objects wont get burned if there five blocks away so I'll add that to the page. -- 01:04, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

There is still false and/or incomplete burn pattern info on here. 22:22, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Low-level lava?
If water and flowing lava collide, you get cobblestone. When sitting/non flowing lava and water collide you get obsidian. If the lava streams aren't big enough (under half a block in height i imagine) it looks like the lava just disappears instead of spawning cobblestone. Didn't edit the page as i wanted other people to confirm this and that it's not just me. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  09:49, 20 July 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * Yup. Happened to me. the smaller lava flows didn't turn into cobblestone. 00:04, 10 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Can we get a confirm on this? 01:25, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Clarification
Playing Alpha, I routed flowing water into a Lava spring. What happened was the spring block turned into Obsidian and the rest of the Lava flow slowly died out from the top to the bottom. Made exploration easier, but I actually liked having a workshop right next to the lava. Felt like Lord of the Rings. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 08:04, 1 October 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * The main article states that obsidian only forms if water contacts a spring, but doesn't it also yield obsidian if the flow is still, as in filling up the area it is in? Wanted confirmation before updating the article. -- 10/5/10 13:06 PST


 * Obsidian is only generated by water flowing and touching a lava spring. It makes Cobblestone if it touches a lava flow. 00:04, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Gathering Lava
I'm trying to gather lava with a bucket, but its not working. Any tips? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  14:50, 1 August 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * You sure can collect it but cannot collect it again like water. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  (&#124;) 16:11, 1 August 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * If you're trying to gather lava from a lava flow, you need to take it from its source block. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  16:12, 1 August 2010. Please sign your posts with

100 Smelts
Is it 100 smelts or 128? –The preceding undated comment was added on 01:43, 12 September 2010. Please sign your posts with


 * I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be 128. Most games use binary values and Notch uses them all the time e.g. snowballs stacking 16, everything else stacking 64, chunks saving in 16x16 areas, coal smelting 8 items... the list goes on and on. -- 20:58, 11 September 2010 (CDT)
 * Sadly, it is indeed 100 smelts. Looking at the code has confirmed this. The burn time is 1000 seconds, and it smelts an item every 10 seconds. 00:11, 27 October 2010 (UTC)
 * No, every item is smelted in 9.25 seconds. So: 100 / 9.25 ≈ 108. CosmoConsole 	   16:26, 30 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Incorrect. Every smelt takes exactly 200 ticks (10 seconds). -- 08:07, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Degradation?
According to the article, "Lava pools without a source will degrade to dirt after a given time period." Does this mean that if I, for example, decide to make a lava pond near my house, get some lava from elsewhere and pour it in, it will eventually "degrade to dirt"? If not, what is considered a "source"? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 19:34, 3 January 2011. Please sign your posts with
 * This is not the case. The author *may* have been referring to a glitched state where the lava will remain on the ground even if the source is removed. 01:25, 29 April 2011 (UTC)
 * The “source” in question is the block of lava you poured out of your bucket. The rest of the pool that expands out from it is not considered “source”. If you remove (with a bucket) or destroy (by filling with a solid block) the source block, the rest of the pool will then gradually disappear. As long as you leave the source block in place, there will be no degradation because the source is still present. 21:38, 29 April 2011 (UTC)
 * If there was only one source, you couldn't call it a lake, really... –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  02:06, 31 January 2012. Please sign your posts with

Arrows
I noticed recently that arrows won't disintegrate in lava- they just appear to catch fire and disappear after a while like they would anywhere else. Of course, you can't retrieve them without almost dying...  –The preceding undated comment was added on 21:19, 4 May 2011. Please sign your posts with

Lava as fuel
When you use your lava bucket as fuel, the lava bucket in the fuel space will be replaced with a empty bucket, so it does not actually cost the bucket to use it as fuel. -- 10:51, 7 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Did you used a mod ? Post a video as proof ! C ali nou - ×  » 11:48, 7 May 2011 (UTC)


 * That's a mod. – ( at 13:54, 7 May 2011 (UTC)
 * In vanilla it disappears. -- 16:43, 10 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Buckets don't disappear for me, and I only have a mini-map mod. I only play single player, but I play v 1.5.01. I don't know how to post a video, but I would if I could. -- 9:51, 14 May 2011 (UTC)


 * So is this true or not? The page seems to be going through an edit war saying one way or the other...  -- 17:58, 23 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Finally got around to testing this myself - yeah, bucket still consumed. Don't know why people were claiming it wasn't (probably a mod) -- 04:22, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Someone has changed it to bucket not consumed again due to recent patch. can someone please verify which patch this is or if its true or not -- 20:00, 23 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I've noticed that the bucket is consumed in my vanilla SMP server but not in singleplayer. Can someone please double check this? -- 01:58, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Destruction of items?
If you die from falling in lava and you lose items, e.g. gold ingots, are they destroyed by the lava or is there some way to recover them? -- 08:14, 18 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Items, which lands in lava, burns. However, items scatters when you die, so it's possible for some of them to land on stone or similar 10:05, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Interesting...cooked porkchop from lava...
So...I don't know if you know this, but you can actually get cooked porkchops from lava if, by some lucky reason, the burning meat doesn't land in lava or completely burn, and hits water. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 06:18, 28 June 2011. Please sign your posts with
 * Are you sure this isn't from pigs burning and dying, or did you throw a raw porkchop in and then quickly got it back? And if anyone could get rid of this weird box, thanks. ( 15:21, 22 October 2011 (UTC))
 * Indent your text with a colon : instead of using spaces. It does actually happen. A dropped item is an entity, and acts just like a mob, in the fact that it can be ignited and if it drops into water, the fire gets extinguished before it can deal any damage to the item. If an item gets damaged, it disappears. Throwing a raw porkchop into fire will not cook it. However, if a pig is killed by fire, it will drop a cooked porkchop instead of a raw one. -- 05:55, 23 October 2011 (UTC)

Lava used to make self repairing objects
Somehow it was left out but lava is one of the key ingredients to making self repairing structures (i.e. bridges, walls, etc)-- 21:23, 5 August 2011 (UTC) How do u use the lava to create self repairing walls?

Lava and water strategically placed with pistons on repeating circuits used to push the blocks into position; well-placed pistons can shape the queue of manufactured blocks into various shapes and layers. With some serious engineering, you can use one block factory to build surprisingly complex structures; as blocks are destroyed, pistons shove them up the line to fill the gap, and the block factory shifts a new block into the now empty first space to be shoved up the line as repairs require. -- 23:16, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Gallery
Is it really necessary to have all the pictures of above ground lava lakes? There are four pictures when one would do. 14:02, 23 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree it could do with a good trim. 09:49, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Old lava texture
Should we include this as history part? 15:26, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Sure! Definitely seems relevant. Possibly in the trivia, like the old texture for s is?    15:40, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I can possibly create a cube out of that picture... can I try? CosmoConsole 	   15:45, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * No need to rely on the picture! The texture is available in the bottom right corner of the terrain.png image in any version of Minecraft.    15:46, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Though, if you do feel like extracting textures from pictures, there's a job over at just waiting for you :T    15:58, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Here's my very awful block render:


 * Okay, about the leaves. Don't know however how fine it will go, probably I won't succeed getting the old leaves texture out from the image.
 * Didn't go very well.CosmoConsole 	   15:59, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Did you use the terrain.png image for that render?   16:00, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes. CosmoConsole 	   16:03, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Just making sure. ^^  Hard to tell because it's blurred a bit.    16:05, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Found a good render in the File:Lava.png history, and changed this one to that render :) now implementing info on history section-- 21:31, 30 August 2011 (UTC)


 * <<- follow this picture link. i think this has the old version of the leaves in it. interesting what you find when you fiddle around with the URL. -- 03:30, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

3 Feet???
And how much is "3 feet" supposed to be??? It's not even true, it's an obscure way that lava puts items on fire, on some sides it does and on others it doesn't, it does through some objects and through others it doesn't, and besides that it has a higher range towards the Y axis, upwards and not downwards -llVIU –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  19:26, 21 September 2011. Please sign your posts with


 * 3 feet is (approximately) 1 metre, and thus is one block in distance. 15:33, 22 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Then it's a lot smarter and more accurate to use meters, don't you think? 02:03, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Lava Reproduction in Prerelease 5
Since this is a highly controversial topic, please discuss all instances of reproduction of lava here before adding to the page

But then I can't explain to myself how it happened that I found an underground lava lake, and could get lava buckets from the *same* location twice. (Took the first, lava from adjacent reflown there, then again. But didn't work everywhere, only in a few places.)(beta1.8) 07:27, 24 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Your lava lake was more than 1 block deep, just took lava from a lower level. ( 08:54, 24 October 2011 (UTC)
 * How can I do that if the top block was re-flown from the nearby lava sources? 15:59, 28 October 2011 (UTC)
 * You can click through flowing lava to target the blocks below. The space where you removed the original lava will be flowing lava.  02:05, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
 * So, now that this feature is in the change list, it's been essentially confirmed? 11:17, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Yep. Can duplicate, too. also, the central space where lava is generated does not have to be on a solid block. -- 23:17, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
 * That last statement hinted at a possibility of spring duplication over depths greater than 1, so I decided to test it out. Turns out it really works, which contradicts the article - namely, the "Source blocks cannot be duplicated over an area deeper than 1 block" part. (On a side note, this seems to work with water too.) 10:26, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Inflammable vs Flammable
In the Behavior section one point under burning describes certain items which can catch on fire "TNT, bookshelves... ...and wooden stairs are inflammable(able to be "inflamed")." I intended to edit this section to use the less confusing word "flammable". While yes inflammable does mean able to catch on fire, it's too easily confused for non-flammable.

While editing this section someone had posted a comment that asserted the correctness of the word and asked that it not be changed. By why not make the sentence less ambiguous? 09:05, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
 * I totally agree. While inflammable is correct, flammable is also correct and much less confusing.  This should be changed for the sake of making the document more clear.  09:12, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Well... of course it will come to this. The word is only confusing if you do not know that the "in" in inflame is NOT a prefix (they should change the word to inflammable to prevent confusion instead of using flammable). Why use the word flammable when you can use the word inflammable and also teach many people about the correct meaning in the process? It's part of the word itself (in this case, inflamare, which is very close to the spanish, french, italian, other romance language spellings and usage). It was only through popular/federal usage that the word flammable became a word for inflammable. By using flammable instead of inflammable, the word gets corrupted. Just because using the "wrong", popular term is for contiguity, doesn't mean that you shouldn't use the correct word. I don't see a problem if we include the note to give the reason and teach readers about the term. Or we could use a synonym instead. - 11:30, 4 November 2011 (UTC)\
 * Flammable is perfect English and is much less confusing. Having some sort of grammar-vocabulary superiority complex is no reason to unnecessarily obfuscate an article. 10:20, 15 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Lol, ok we'll use flammable since it won't be confusing. That was the whole reason the govs pushed for flammable anyways. And I'm guessing this is some sort of pedantic behavior?which means I won't be doing this kind of stuff anymore. But you have to realize, it's better to let kids know about the terms than have them confuse/misuse them later on. idk whatever - 08:21, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Sigh...classic pedants on Wiki
No one calls lava "magma" in Minecraft. No one will understand what a "Magma lake" is. Wikis are designed for the players. If no one understands what the hell you are saying, then don't put it in a Wiki.

You don't scoop out "magma buckets" -- it's lava buckets. Yes, it's incorrect since the lava isn't from a volcanic eruption, but get over it. Minecraft has enchantments, slimes, and magical mob spawners. It isn't about being realistic.

You're just hindering your communication by doing this. The previous revision of the article read as if there were two types of blocks, a "lava block" and a "magma block", but that's clearly not true. 18:14, 15 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Lawl, you could have given links to explain why this type of behavior isn't good. that would've been more helpful. Anyways, I don't think the text says anything about magma buckets; you came to that conclusion on your own. But you're right about the communication part. Go ahead and make it sound less confusing. I need a break anyways. Too much time here, screwing with judgement and shit. - 08:58, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Do ores have a higher probability to be generated close to pools of lava?
it happened to me multiple of times where i find more lapis lazuli and gold and etc... in mass quantities close to lava pools. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  04:23, 26 November 2011. Please sign your posts with


 * This is the same as finding ores in caves as opposed to mining them. I believe the greater surface area exposed reveals more ores and produces the illusion that more spawn there than other places.  Can someone provide evidence for or against(through decompiled generator code, perhaps)? ( 21:37, 28 November 2011 (UTC))


 * Testing just now in creative mode, I'd say I'm pretty sure this is a positive. Found three deposits of gold, two of lapis, and several coal and iron around one mediumish lava lake (three lava deep). Far more than I'd usually find in the same area mining. Wouldn't like to try it on survival tho', have a nasty habit of dying around lava lakes... [Afterthought] actually, it says lots of high-value ores are generated around lava lakes here... –Preceding unsigned comment was added by   02:13, 16 January 2012. Please sign your posts with


 * NO. There is less of a chance because the generation is:
 * 1. Generate ground.
 * 2. Generate plants.
 * 3. Generate fluids.
 * The fluids hollow out a bit over them, and the ores along with it. Oh, and, by the way, I think you are mining above layer 16, person right above me. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 23:59, 11 April 2012. Please sign your posts with

Lava above the top layer
I ran into this glitch on the server I'm running, where lava is the only block I can get to spawn at the highest layer of the map. Running most up to date release of both the server and minecraft itself.

--Xiaden –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  15:02, 30 December 2011. Please sign your posts with


 * On that layer, the only things that you can place/spawn are mobs ( only}}) and liquids . 13:39, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

flow time in ticks
i was experimenting in 12w03a and i found that the downward flow time for lava is approximately 16 ticks, or 1.6 seconds. just a neat APPROXIMATE fact. 22:34, 21 January 2012 (UTC) I've made some tests and got 16 ticks too. 08 July 2012

Mob AI
Should it be mentioned in the article (possibly under "Use of Lava Bucket as a Weapon") that some mobs (i.e. Zombies, Creepers, Skeletons) will have AI (12w04a) to pathfind around lava? ( |  ) 02:54, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

1.2.3 No lava droplets
I was playing in the new release, when I discovered that there's lave right above me, but i didn't see any droplets. In the meanwhile, i heard "slimes", and tried to find them, but i didn't succeed. Then I got suspicious, and tried it in creative mode. So apparently, lava in 1.2.3 (not sure about 1.2.2) is not indicated by droplets if above you, but instead, there's a boiling and slime-like sound. I think this should be added to the page. Edit: Checked on other computer, the droplets are there, and the sound also, so i think it's just the addition of the sound of lava. 14:43, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, it sounds very slightly lime, er like Slimes. I didn't know where to put-in that I noticed this, then added, my own (parenthetical) remark, to it:

'In minecraft version 1.3.1, there is a strange possible glitch or new feature causing lava and water with cobble separating them to cause damage to a player who is standing in the water touching the cobble, almost like the water is hot and burning the player. (This may be a flow bug: which may have been later-fixed.)'

I could swear they fixed this water-flow Bug by 1.4.2. I wasn't any-longer taking damage from being by a surface with water flowing me into it. But I'm pretty sure it's not a "feature," as much as a glitch, as I don't think we've heard anything about this, in any main releases. Yilante 11 /2 /12 12:44 pm 19:44, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

No source block but staying
I read that without a source block, lava will stay for a few minutes. I thought it stayed forever, making source blocks. Try pouring lava down a cave, collect the original lava, and lava will stay. Can you collect what looks a source block? If so, you can make infinite lava. 16:58, 15 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Flowing lava will persist for several minutes, and blocks "down stream" will also continue as long as the secondary blocks persist as well. Unfortunately none of those blocks can be used as source blocks.


 * For a couple of brief times, you could create lava source blocks by putting them into a cross or plus (+) shape and dig out the middle block, but that has since been removed from the game. Good try on trying to get a source block though.  It would be nice if it was a renewable material.  Sadly, it isn't.  -- 20:20, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Making a Texture Pack
I'm making a custom texture pack, and I've been working on a new lava and fire texture. Neither of them work, for some odd reason. -- 20:21, 6 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Ok, are you editing the terrain.png for the lava? Or making a custom_lava.png? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by (&#124;) 00:01, 12 April 2012. Please sign your posts with

Speed of fluid movement...
It says that the "speed of fluid movement" for lava is "30 ticks/m" though speed is defined as length per time so it should be "m/30 ticks" or "1/30 m/tick". But you can also change the text "speed of fluid movement" to something else. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by  22:10, 5 May 2012. Please sign your posts with

Burning rules the same as fire?
I've been doing some tests and it seems lava's burn pattern is the same as fire (1 block to the sides and bottom and 4 to the top). To me this makes sense at least and so far my wooden lava container hasn't burned using those rules. So unless someone did testing and found something else I think that the description of "it'll burn anything within 3 blocks" should be changed to either match or reference the burn pattern of fire. Just like fire, lava seems to only burn blocks that have air space around them, so a block of wood encased in lava won't burn.

The tests I did, non of these burned down yet (2+ minecraft days):

- Encase a block of lava in a 3x3x6 box of planks (with the lava on the 2nd layer of the box with no air space above or below it) - A 3x3 floor of planks with a 3x3 ring of cobble with a block of lava in the middle - A 3x3x7 shaft of cobble with lava at the bottom and random wood around the sides

So yeah, I think this should be changed because it doesn't seem to be accurate. 19:21, 9 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Well I've had those tests running for more time (I just have them set up in my experimental world, which I'm using a lot recently) and I think the tests have been running for at least 1 hour and still nothing burned down. I'm going to adjust the wiki page, and should someone find something else through testing they can change it to whatever they find. 21:35, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Rules are not the same as fire. This needs to be changed. 22:20, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Lava... Y U NO REPRODUCE?
Is there a technical reason why it doesn't, or was it done on purpose?
 * It's because lava is more useful and destructive than water. It's for the same reason you can't duplicate diamonds. 23:28, 2 August 2012 (UTC)
 * D:

Slightly Confused, When Did Lava stop reproducing?
I've been playing since Alpha, and I remember in late beta, there was an update that allowed Lava Sources to be duplicated (by placing four Sources around one block in a "+" shape). I remember that being the greatest update ever, and I used that all the time. Anyway, I just attempted to make infinite lava on my current world, and now it doesn't work. So does anyone know when this was removed? (I didn't see it mentioned on the page's history of Lava, although I am about to go track down posts that mention it). Thanks, 09:44, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

EDIT: After reading this page more thoroughly, I did see at least one other person mention the update I am referring to (the one in which lava was renewable), however I just skimmed through all of the patch noted for each update (From Alpha - now, using Ctrl+F to find anything with the word Lava) and did not see it mentioned once. Shouldn't this at least be mentioned in the lava history though, as it was a point in time where Lava was renewable. 09:55, 8 September 2012 (UTC)


 * According to, this was possible in Beta 1.9 pre-5, and removed in 1.0 . Probably should be in the history here too. -- 15:58, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Lava mitigating fall damage
I set out to prove the recent addition by an anonymous user wrong before removing, and found that lava does mitigate fall damage, but 9 blocks at *any* height is false. I tested using 9 blocks of lava contained in a "smoke stack" of blocks, and /tp'd myself to y:1000. I died of fall damage, but I increased the lava stack to 22 blocks (randomly chosen higher number) and the lava did indeed slow my decent before burning me up. This needs more testing to produce a possible formula based on fall speed. 23:30, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Testing needed - Density of lava sounds means you're closer to it?
MC version as of this writing: 1.5.2 As I've been playing in my survival world I've been finding lava pools often as of late. One thing I've noticed when I have is that when I'm not close to the lava pool I only hear a few lava "bloops" at a time, sometimes seconds between (very small) packs of noises. When I'm really close to the open pool though, the lava sounds get much louder ( which is understandable) and much more constant. Using this I can tell when I'm getting close to it. In my experience this happens for both large pools and very small pools (>15 blocks) alike, with similar density of sounds for both.

Could others help test if there's credence to this, that it can be used to detect the location of lava? And if so, could it be added to the article? Thanks a lot. -- 21:00, 23 May 2013 (UTC)


 * The sounds are the same no matter how close you are, they just get louder when you get closer. This is the same with any real-life bubbly liquid.   ᐸ <small style="display:inline-block;line-height:1em;vertical-align:-0.4em"> 10:27, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

How common is lava, on average?
Since lava is a hot commodity (no pun intended), I figure we should know how many source blocks per chunk there are on average... Man, I'm OCD about that kind of detail. -- 03:01, 24 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Visit the page and you will find it.

22:11, 1 April 2014 (UTC)