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Entity Scaling

The size of six entities (a chicken, Noor, evoker, camel, warden, and oak boat) relative to four blocks

Entities encompass all dynamic, moving objects throughout the Minecraft world.

General behavior[]

Properties all entities have are:

  • A position, rotation, and velocity.
  • A volume consisting of one or more non-rotating, three-dimensional boxes with a fixed height and width
  • Whether they are on fire, displayed as flames on or around the entity
  • Whether they have any status effect, such as from potions

Most entities can be pushed around by water currents, and some can have their trajectory altered by explosions if already traveling at speed. Some entities can be renamed by using a name tag on them. Entity tiles, items, shot or thrown projectiles, area effect clouds, and experience orbs do not have a current health. Entities that do have a health status include mobs, players, boats, boat with chests and minecarts.

Entities cannot pass through solid blocks, excluding vexes. Most types of entities prevent blocks from being placed in the space they occupy, except for resources (dropped items) and experience orbs, which are automatically pushed out of the block to open air. If a solid block enters an entity's space, such as falling sand or a swinging door, then it is free to move out of the solid block but not back in. For example, if a door is closed on you, you can jump up and stand on top of the bottom-half door block, if there is air above the door.

Entities are lit according to the light level of the block their position is in. For example, if a minecart runs over a non-straight track directly into a solid block, it turns black because solid blocks always have a light level of 0; arrows are also sometimes seen to turn black, especially if fired shallowly into the ceiling.

Further notes[]

Item frames, glow item frames, paintings, and lead knots, unlike most entities, align to the block grid, and are completely immobile.

Arrows, TNT and falling sand (and its variants, including other falling blocks like anvils and dragon eggs) are assumed to have infinite health because they are neither destroyed by explosions (although they can be moved by explosions, and they can also be fired out of TNT cannons), nor by being on fire for long periods. However, they can still be "killed" with the use of the /kill command.

Boats, boat with chests and minecarts[]

See also: Transportation (contains information about speed)

Boats, boat with chests and minecarts appear to recover health over time. For example, they can be broken by hitting them quickly, but cannot be destroyed by hits with unarmed hand with a pause after each hit. The amount of wobbling displayed by boats and minecarts when struck appears to indicate their current health. All minecart, boat and boat with chest variants have 6♥♥♥.

Gravity-affected blocks[]

Main article: Falling Block
Sandy Dungeon

Falling sand that collapsed into a dungeon.

Gravity-affected blocks include sand, gravel, anvils, red sand, dragon eggs, concrete powder, scaffolding, and pointed dripstone, along with snow layers in Bedrock Edition.

A gravity-affected block normally exists as a block, but when its support is removed, it becomes a falling block entity and falls down until hitting the top surface of another block. If there is valid space, it places itself as a block at the nearest on-grid position, or drops as an item if that position is occupied by a block without a solid top surface, such as a torch or a bottom slab.

While a falling block ordinarily falls straight down, its trajectory can be affected by explosions, bubble columns, pistons, reeling it in, and moving slime blocks, and can slide down the side of honey blocks. It is also possible to modify the velocity and direction of a falling block by using commands such as /data[Java Edition only] or third-party programs. A falling block despawns and drops as an item if it does not land after existing for 600 ticks (30 seconds), or 100 ticks (5 seconds) if falling into the void[verify].

If a cave generates underneath sand, gravel, or red sand, the blocks remain stationary until it receives a block update. If a single block is updated and falls down, neighboring blocks will be updated in a chain reaction which can cause the collapse of an entire region of gravity-affected blocks.

Interactions with "use" control[]

Entities with use interactions (such as boats, boat with chests, minecarts, cats, villagers, tamed parrots, and tamed wolves) do not stop the use action of a tool you are holding. For example, using a water bucket on a tamed wolf causes the wolf to sit, but also empties the bucket near or onto the wolf.

Riding[]

Skeleton-spider-desert

A spider jockey.

Entities may be riding on, or attached to, other entities. When this is the case, only the lower/"outer" entity's volume collides with other things, and only that entity can control movement.‌[Java Edition only] However, there are exceptions: players riding minecarts, boats, boat with chests, or saddled horses, baby zombies riding chickens, and skeletons riding horses or boats.

The only current legitimate combinations of riding entities are:

Note that a parrot on player shoulder isn't considered as riding.

It is possible to have multiple levels, such as a baby piglin on another baby piglin who is riding a hoglin in a minecart in a boat or a boat with chest.

Entities can also be stacked on top of each other with the use of the /summon and /data commands in Java Edition. For example, using /summon spider ~ ~ ~ {Passengers:[{id:skeleton}]} summons a spider jockey, or using /ride in Bedrock Edition.

If an entity is riding another entity, the top entity cannot teleport because as soon as the teleport is made, the entity is teleported back to riding the other entity.‌[Java Edition only]

Starting from the Nether Update, entities that are riders or passengers of other entities cannot despawn.[verify]

Types of entities[]

The table below lists types of entities that currently exist in Minecraft.

Entities listed as "solid" obstruct the passage of other entities.

Type Solid Health Resource location Living Entity
Players Yes 20♥ × 10 (Varies with attributes) player Yes
Mobs Yes Varies see Java Edition data values#Entities Yes
Camera[edu & BE only] Yes 1♥ camera No
Ice Bomb[edu & BE only] ? ice_bomb No
Balloon[edu & BE only] Yes balloon No

Boats
Yes 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
boat No

Boats with Chests
Yes 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
chest_boat No

Minecart
Yes (to other entities) 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.

minecart

No

Minecart with Chest
Yes (to other entities) 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
chest_minecart No

Minecart with Furnace[JE only]
Yes (to other entities) 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
furnace_minecart No

Minecart with TNT
Yes (to other entities) 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
tnt_minecart No

Minecart with Hopper
Yes (to other entities) 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
hopper_minecart No

Minecart with Monster Spawner[JE only]
Yes (to other entities) 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
spawner_minecart No

Minecart with Command Block
Yes (to other entities) 6♥♥♥
Recovers health quickly over time.
command_block_minecart No
Items Yes (to boats, boat with chests and minecarts) 5♥♥♥ item No
Experience orbs No 5♥♥♥ experience_orb[JE only], xp_orb[BE only] No
Arrows Yes (to boats, boat with chests and minecarts) arrow, spectral_arrow[JE only] No
Tridents Yes trident[JE only], thrown_trident[BE only] No
Snowball Yes snowball No
Egg Yes egg No
Llama spit Yes llama_spit No
Ender pearls Yes ender_pearl No
Eye of ender No eye_of_ender[JE only], eye_of_ender_signal[BE only] No
Firework rocket No

fireworks_rocket

No
Primed TNT No tnt No
Falling block No falling_block No
Fishing rod bobbers Yes (to boats, boat with chests and minecarts) fishing_bobber[JE only], fishing_hook[BE only] No
Lightning bolts No lightning_bolt No
Lead knot No leash_knot No
Painting No painting No
Item frame[JE only] No item_frame, glow_item_frame No
Armor stand No armor_stand Yes
Fireballs
Wither skulls
Dragon Fireballs
Yes fireball, small_fireball, wither_skull, wither_skull_dangerous[BE only], dragon_fireball No
Shulker bullet Yes shulker_bullet No
End crystals No 5♥♥♥ end_crystal[JE only], ender_crystal[BE only] No
Evoker fangs No ? evoker_fangs[JE only], evocation_fang[BE only] No
Marker[JE only] No marker No
Block display[JE only] No block_display No
Item display[JE only] No item_display No
Text display[JE only] No text_display No
Interaction[JE only] No interaction No

Motion of entities[]

"Gravity" redirects here. For the Minecraft Dungeons enchantment, see MCD:Gravity.

Gravity works differently in Minecraft than the real world, as not everything is subject to the same acceleration. Additionally, there is a drag force proportional to velocity, again dependent on the entity.

Kind Acceleration
blocks/tick2
Acceleration
m/s2
Drag
1/tick
Terminal velocity
m/tick
Terminal velocity
m/s
Players and other living entities [note 1] 0.08 32 0.02 3.92 78.4
Players/mobs with Slow Falling [note 1] 0.01 4 0.02 0.49 9.8
Items, falling blocks, and TNT 0.04 16 0.02 2.00 40.0
Minecarts 0.04 16 0.05 0.76 16.0
Boats and boat with chests 0.04 16 0.00
Thrown eggs, snowballs, potions, and ender pearls 0.03 12 0.01 3.00 60.0
Experience orbs 0.03 12 0.02 1.50 30.0
Thrown fishing bobbers 0.03 12 0.08 0.375 7.5
Llama spit 0.06 24 0.01 6.00 120.0
Fired arrows, and thrown tridents 0.05 20 0.01 5.00 100.0
Fireballs, Wither skulls, and dragon fireballs [note 1][note 2] 0.10 40 0.05[note 3] 1.90 38.0

Starting at an initial upwards velocity , an entity's velocity after falling for a number of ticks can be given by the formulas:

Drag applied before acceleration:
Drag applied after acceleration[note 1][note 4]:
Note: initialVelocity is in blocks/tick, finalVelocity is in m/tick, and acceleration is in blocks/tick^2.
  1. a b c d Note that when living entities and explosive projectiles are simulated, the drag is applied after the acceleration, rather than before; this is why their terminal velocities aren't whole numbers while the others are.
  2. Explosive projectiles are not affected by gravity but instead get acceleration from getting damaged.
  3. Dangerous wither skulls have drag force of 0.27.
  4. For living entities that cannot fly, use (ticksPassed+1).

Data values[]

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format
  • : Root tag.
    • Tags common to all entities

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Video[]

History[]

Java Edition
1.1?Players cannot interact with entities from far away in Creative mode.
1.4.212w34aEntities can now use portals.
1.915w31aProjectile motion has now been changed slightly.[1]
15w36aMost entities (exceptions being items and experience orbs) can now be pushed by other entities.
15w45aEntities bunched up in a 1×1 hole together no longer push away entities touching adjacent corners.
15w49aProjectiles now take the thrower's momentum into account when the player is falling, flying with elytra, or taking knockback; but not when the player is walking, riding an entity, or flying in Creative mode.
1.1116w32aEntity IDs have now been changed to have underscores and no capital letters. They can also be used by typing minecraft: before the IDs, similar to block IDs.
The ID for mobs (Mob), and monsters (Monster) have now been removed.
Pocket Edition Alpha
?The insides of mobs no longer render.
Bedrock Edition
?The insides of mobs now render again.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Entity" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

See also[]

  • Block entity – unlike the entities mentioned above, these are simply blocks that store additional data.

References[]

Entities 

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