Air is an invisible, non-solid block that occupies any space not filled with another block.
Overview[]
Air cannot be created, destroyed, or obtained, even with an inventory editor. Although it is technically a block, it's usually not seen as such, as there is no way to interact with it because it has no collision box. Air is unique in the way that it automatically replaces any block that is removed, even though it doesn't visually flow. Air is required to avoid drowning from water, or suffocation from falling sand/gravel/concrete powder.
Background[]
In the Indev versions, air affected fluid blocks that were horizontally adjacent to it. If the air was touching a fluid block, there was a 2 out of 3 chance the fluid block would disappear and make the pool recede and a 1 out of 3 chance the fluid block would fill the air, making the pool spread.
Trivia[]
- Air is programmed to fill any adjacent blocks that are not already full. Sometimes, there is a glitch where a player takes suffocation damage when blocking water, or emptying the block of anything other than air that the player is standing in.
- Even though air is nonexistent in the Void, a player does not suffocate. They are just unable to place blocks beneath the bedrock level.
- In Alpha/Beta/release 1.3, players could have the air block in their inventory.
- Air is one of the four types of blocks generated in all three Minecraft dimensions, the other being bedrock, chests and obsidian (1.16+ only).
- Air is the most common and oldest block in Minecraft.