Falling Block

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Falling Block
Hitbox size

Height: 0.98 blocks
Width: 0.98 blocks 

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            "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
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A falling block is the entity form of a 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 touching ground... Notes
Block below is absent. No Becomes block again.
Block below is absent. No Becomes block again; will add to the levels of existing snow layers accordingly. ‌
Block below is absent. Yes Becomes block again; may progress to the next damage stage if the fall height is greater than 1. Also plays a sound.
Block below is absent. Yes Becomes block again; may break if the fall height is greater than 1. Also plays a sound.
Block below is absent. No Breaks and plays a sound. Lose the items in them when become falling blocks.
Block below is absent. No Becomes block again. Will become concrete in block form if it lands next to water, or intersects water while falling.
Block above is absent, or hit by a projectile. Yes Breaks and plays a sound. Only applies to those which point down from a ceiling support.
Placed such that it has a distance of 7. No Becomes block again.

Falling block entities can be spawned through /summon. 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, primed TNT is a different kind of 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 (grass, water, vines, 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 entities, falling blocks are affected by explosions and bubble columns, can be launched by a moving slime block, can be pushed by pistons, can be slowed down by cobwebs, can slide down the side of a honey block, and can travel through nether and end portals. However, they do not bounce on a stationary slime block and can neither be pushed nor slowed down by water or lava.

Falling blocks pass through most entities without colliding with them, although projectiles such as arrows bounce off them. They do not have health, cannot be attacked and do not take damage. They are also immune to all 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. Suspicious sand and suspicious gravel also drop themselves after falling for more than 30 seconds,[1] making this the only way to obtain suspicious blocks in Survival mode.‌

Commands such as /data‌ 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 /kill 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 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.

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.
Java Edition

Sounds
SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
​Anvil landedBlocksWhen an anvil lands and survivesblock.anvil.landsubtitles.block.anvil.land​0.30.9-1.016
None​[sound 1]​BlocksWhen a pointed dripstone lands from fallingblock.pointed_dripstone.landNone​[sound 1]​2.00.9-1.016
​Block brokenBlocksWhen a suspicious sand block lands from fallingblock.suspicious_sand.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break​1.00.816
​Block brokenBlocksWhen a suspicious gravel block lands from fallingblock.suspicious_gravel.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break​1.00.816
  1. ↑ a b ​MC-213647​

Bedrock Edition:

Sounds
SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksWhen an anvil lands and survivesrandom.anvil_land0.50.8-1.0
PlayersWhen a pointed dripstone lands from fallingland.pointed_dripstone??
BlocksWhen a suspicious sand block lands from fallingblock.suspicious_sand.break??
BlocksWhen a suspicious gravel block lands from fallingbreak.suspicious_gravel1.00.8-1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierTranslation key
EntitySprite falling-block.png: Sprite image for falling-block in Minecraft Falling Blockfalling_blockentity.minecraft.falling_block

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
EntitySprite falling-block.png: Sprite image for falling-block in Minecraft Falling Blockfalling_block66entity.falling_block.name

Entity data

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format
  • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Dynamic block entity data
    • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
    • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] BlockState: The falling block represented by this entity.
      • [String] Name: The resource location of the block.
      • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Properties: Optional. The block states of the block.
        • [String] Name: The block state name and its value.
    • [Byte] CancelDrop: 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 suspicious sand and suspicious gravel, and 0 for the other vanilla falling blocks and any summoned falling block.
    • [Byte] DropItem: 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.
    • [Float] FallHurtAmount: Multiplied by the FallDistance to calculate the amount of damage to inflict. By default this value is 2HP♥ for anvils, and 6HP♥♥♥ for pointed dripstone.
    • [Int] FallHurtMax: The maximum hit points of damage to inflict on entities that intersect this falling block. For vanilla falling blocks, always 40HP♥ × 20.
    • [Byte] HurtEntities: 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.
    • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] TileEntityData: Optional. The tags of the block entity for this block.
    • [Int] Time: 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.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

History

Java Edition Infdev
20100618Added falling block entities for handling sand and gravel. Before this, they would snap directly to where they would fall to.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6Added dragon eggs, which create falling blocks.
1.4.212w41aAdded anvils, which create falling blocks.
1.7.213w39aAdded red sand, which creates falling blocks.
1.915w38aFalling blocks no longer turn back into blocks when landing on fences, closed fence gates or walls.[2]
1.1217w06aAdded concrete powder, which creates falling blocks.
1.13.118w30aGravity affected blocks can no longer be supported by replaceable blocks. Previously they were able to replace them when landing inside them but would not start falling when placed above them.
Falling blocks can no longer replace snow with multiple layers.[3]
1.1418w45aAdded scaffolding, which creates falling blocks.
19w06aFalling blocks now once again turn back into blocks when landing on fences, closed fence gates or walls.[4]
Falling blocks are once again able to replace snow with multiple layers.[5]
19w07aFalling blocks now drop as an item when landing on snow with multiple layers instead of replacing it.
1.1720w48aAdded pointed dripstone, which creates falling blocks if the block above it gets destroyed while the pointed dripstone is a stalactite.
1.19.4
Experiment
Update 1.20		23w07aAdded suspicious sand, which creates falling blocks.
1.2023w12aAdded suspicious gravel, which creates falling blocks.
1.2124w19aFalling blocks can now travel through nether portals.[6]
Pocket Edition Alpha
?Falling blocks have been implemented, but none of the blocks are currently gravity-bound.[7]
v0.6.0Sand and gravel are now affected by gravity.
v0.8.0build 8Falling blocks now drop their item form when falling onto blocks they cannot replace.
v0.9.0build 1Added red sand, which creates falling blocks.
v0.12.1build 1Added anvils, which create falling blocks.
Snow now creates falling blocks.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Added dragon eggs, which create falling blocks.
1.1.0alpha 1.1.0.0Added concrete powder, which creates falling blocks.
Bedrock Edition
1.8.0beta 1.8.0.8Added scaffolding, which creates falling blocks.
1.17.0beta 1.16.210.56Added pointed dripstone, which creates falling blocks if the block above it gets destroyed while the pointed dripstone is a stalactite.
1.19.70
Experiment
Next Major Update		Preview 1.19.70.23Added suspicious sand, which creates falling blocks.
1.19.80
Experiment
Next Major Update		Preview 1.19.80.20Added suspicious gravel, which creates falling blocks.
Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360Xbox OnePS3PS4PS VitaWii USwitch
TU1CU11.001.001.00Patch 11.0.1Added sand and gravel along with falling blocks.
TU9Added dragon eggs, which create falling blocks.
TU141.05Added anvils, which create falling blocks.
TU31CU191.221.221.22Patch 3Added red sand.
TU46CU361.381.381.38Patch 15Falling blocks no longer turn back into blocks when landing on fences, closed fence gates or walls.
TU53CU431.491.501.49Patch 231.0.3Added concrete powder, which creates falling blocks.
TU69 1.761.761.76Patch 38 Snow now creates falling blocks.
1.83 Added scaffolding, which creates falling blocks.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Added falling blocks along with sand, red sand, gravel, and anvils.
1.7.10Added dragon eggs, which create falling blocks.
1.9.19Added concrete powder, which creates falling blocks.

Data history

Java Edition Infdev
20100618Added falling block entity with the ID FallingSand, although it affects gravel as well.
Java Edition
1.1116w32aThe entity ID has been changed from FallingSand to falling_block.
1.1317w47aNumeric IDs for entities were presumably deprecated in this version.​

See also

References

  1. ↑ MC-260073 — Suspicious sand/gravel drops as an item after 30 seconds of existing as falling block — resolved as "Won't Fix".
  2. ↑ MC-90523
  3. ↑ MC-99244
  4. ↑ MC-90523
  5. ↑ MC-139493
  6. ↑ MC-9644 — Launched falling_block entities do not travel through portals — resolved as "Fixed".
  7. ↑ Meet the Pocket Edition Team - MINECON 2012 Panel @ 14:30 – YouTube

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