Minecraft:Falling Block

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A falling block is the Minecraft:entity form of a Minecraft:block that appears when a gravity-affected block loses its support.

Spawning

Falling blocks naturally spawn where gravity-affected blocks lose their base of support. These blocks include:

Block	Falls when	Causes damage?	Upon landing	Notes
Template:BlockLink Template:BlockLink Template:BlockLink Template:BlockLink	Block below is replaceable.	No	Becomes a block again.
Template:BlockLink	Block below is replaceable.	No	Becomes a block again; will add to the levels of existing snow layers accordingly.	Template:Only
Template:BlockLink Template:BlockLink	Block below is replaceable.	Yes	Becomes a block again and plays a sound; may progress to the next damage stage if the fall height is greater than 1.
Template:BlockLink	Block below is replaceable.	Yes	Becomes a block again and plays a sound; may break if the fall height is greater than 1.
Template:BlockLink Template:BlockLink	Block below is replaceable.	No	Breaks and plays a sound.	Contained items are lost.
Template:BlockLink	Block below is replaceable.	No	Becomes a block again.	Becomes Minecraft:concrete in block form if it lands next to water, or intersects water while falling.
Template:BlockLink	Block above the whole stalactite is destroyed.	Yes	Breaks and plays a sound.	Only applies to pointed dripstone facing down.
Template:BlockLink	Placed such that it is unsupported and has a distance of 7 from the closest supported scaffolding.	No	Becomes a block again.

Template:IN, falling block entities can be spawned through Template:Cmd. By tweaking the BlockState NBT tag, it is possible to summon any block as a falling block entity.

Although it has the same appearance as its corresponding block and is also affected by gravity, Minecraft:primed TNT is a different Minecraft:entity.

Behavior

A falling block continues falling until it lands on another block with a solid top surface. If it lands with the bottom center of its hitbox in a replaceable block (Minecraft:grass, Minecraft:fluids, Minecraft:vines, Minecraft:air, etc.), and the block below can support it (i.e. not a replaceable block), then the falling block returns to its block state. Otherwise, it breaks and drops as an item.

Like most other Minecraft:entities, falling blocks are affected by Minecraft:explosions and Minecraft:bubble columns, can be launched by a moving Minecraft:slime block, can be pushed by Minecraft:pistons, can be slowed down by Minecraft:cobwebs, can slide down the side of a Minecraft:honey block, and can travel through nether and Minecraft:end portals. However, they do not bounce on a stationary slime block and can neither be pushed nor slowed down by Minecraft:water or Minecraft:lava.

Falling blocks pass through most entities without colliding with them, although projectiles such as Minecraft:arrows bounce off them. They do not have Minecraft:health, cannot be attacked and do not take Minecraft:damage. They are also immune to all Minecraft:status effects.

By default, a falling block that has existed for more than 600 ticks (30 seconds) destroys itself and drops as an item. This can be changed by modifying the entity's Time NBT value. Minecraft:Suspicious sand and Minecraft:suspicious gravel also drop themselves after falling for more than 30 seconds,<ref>Template:Bug</ref> making this the only way to obtain suspicious blocks in Minecraft:Survival mode.Template:Only

Commands such as Template:Cmd Template:Only can change the moving and facing directions of a falling block, although there are no in-game mechanics that can alter a falling block's facing direction. They can be removed with the Template:Cmd command.

Some falling blocks, like anvils and pointed dripstone, deal damage to players and mobs in the same block space where they land. The damage is dealt only on landing, and is not dealt to players and mobs that collide with them in mid-air. A falling block that deals damage can be Minecraft:summoned if its HurtEntities tag is set to true. The amount of damage dealt per block fallen can be customized via the FallHurtAmount tag, and the maximum damage dealt can be customized via the FallHurtMax tag.

Calculators/Projectile motion

Interactions with projectiles

Projectile hits the falling block

Projectile passes through the falling block

Projectile ricochets on the falling block

Sounds

Some falling blocks produce sounds when they land.
Template:Edition Template:SoundTable

Template:Edition: Template:SoundTable

Data values

ID

Template:Edition: Template:ID table

Entity data

Template:El: Template:Main

Template:Nbt Dynamic block entity data
- Template:Nbt inherit/entity
- Template:Nbt: The falling block represented by this entity.
  - Template:Nbt inherit/block state
- Template:Nbt: Optional. The tags of the block entity for this block.
  - Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity
- Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the block should be destroyed instead of placed after landing on a solid block. When true, the block is not dropped as an item, even if the DropItem tag is set to true. However, if the entity is deleted due to its Time value being too high, this tag is ignored and an item is dropped depending on the DropItem tag. CancelDrop defaults to 1 for falling Minecraft:suspicious sand and Minecraft:suspicious gravel, and 0 for the other vanilla falling blocks and any summoned falling block.
- Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the block should drop as an item when it breaks. Any block that does not have an item form with the same ID as the block does not drop even if this is set.
- Template:Nbt: Multiplied by the FallDistance to calculate the amount of damage to inflict. By default this value is Template:Hp for anvils, and Template:Hp for pointed dripstone.
- Template:Nbt: The maximum hit points of damage to inflict on entities that intersect this falling block. For vanilla falling blocks, always Template:Hp.
- Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the block should hurt entities it falls on. Defaults to 1 for anvils and pointed dripstone and to 0 for the other vanilla falling blocks and any summoned falling block.
- Template:Nbt: The number of ticks the entity has existed. When Time goes above 600, or above 100 while the block is at Y=-64 or is outside building height, the entity is deleted.