Falling Block

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Reason: The behavior is incomplete, as it also depends on what the falling block lands on. Also, there are differences between versions.

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:

• Anvil
• Concrete Powder
• Dragon Egg
• Gravel
• Pointed Dripstone
• Red Sand
• Sand
• Scaffolding
• Snow layer‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
• Suspicious Sand
• Suspicious Gravel

Although it has the same appearance as its corresponding block and is also affected by gravity, the primed TNT entity is a different kind of entity than the falling block entity.

If cheats are enabled, falling block entities can be spawned using the command /summon. By tweaking the BlockState NBT tag, it is possible to summon a falling block entity that normally does not fall as a block, such as dirt or stone, although it has the same behavior as a naturally spawned falling block.

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, and can slide down the side of a honey block. 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 blocks also drop themselves after falling for more than 30 seconds,^[1] making this the only way to obtain suspicious blocks in Survival.

Commands such as /data‌^{[Java Edition 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 /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.

Sounds[]

Some falling blocks produce sounds when they land.
Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Entity data[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

History[]

See also[]

• Tutorials/Falling blocks
• Entity