How to make floating water in minecraft

Q: How do you make floating water?

The trick” to this experiment is air pressure. In this experiment, youre basically going to pour water in a glass, put a slip of paper over the glass, turn the glass upside down, and watch as air pressure keeps the paper in place—and the water floating” in the glass.

Question

I remember when you could get a still water block to build with. Don’t remember what version that ended with, but I’m pretty sure it was pre-1.3 (before the new creative menu was added)

Jeez. I can’t believe that was almost 8 years ago that they changed the creative menu.

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How To Make Magical Floating Water

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#1 Sep 30, 2011
If an ice block is in mid-air when it is melted by bright light the water will not flow and will remain suspended in a single square until a block next to it is updated. Then it will start flowing downwards like normal water. I used that to create a cool little hovering water road.

You can see the torches I used to melt the ice behind it. Those torches have a 1 block gap between them and the water, so I can destroy them and remove/move the light source without updating the water if I want.
Players can swim across the gaps between the water, as long as they keep moving. The gaps are mandatory, you can't make a continuous surface of floating water because when an ice block melts next to floating water it causes a block update and makes the water flow down. So you need to leave a space between each block of ice.
If you want a more continuous surface you can also arrange them in a grid like this, since block updates aren't triggered by changes in the diagonally adjacent block.

You can of course just use this as a way of storing water in midair until a block update makes it flood the area. Might make a handy trap.
EDIT:
Here's one practical use of floating water. I built a solid water bridge allowing boats to pass over a railway.

Here's a perfectly vertical 1 column water ladder:
#2 Sep 30, 2011
And yes! It can hold up boats! Sail around on your magical sky sea.
#5 Sep 30, 2011
Neptunic
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Erm. I can't tell if abover posters were the same account or not, or if it is some fanbase. Anyways. This has absolutely nothing to do with redstone, and is a bug that has been out since ice was put in...
Brony for life.
#6 Sep 30, 2011
Erm. I can't tell if abover posters were the same account or not, or if it is some fanbase. Anyways. This has absolutely nothing to do with redstone, and is a bug that has been out since ice was put in...
Although it doesn't require redstone, I think it could be very useful in various redstone contraptions. Boat dispensers, block update flood traps using redstone or pistons, etc. Plus if you're doing this legit you probably should use pistons to move the ice.
#7 Sep 30, 2011
It's not directly related to redstone.. but like alot of non redstone things can use the mechanics of it (especially quirks like this) to make new things simplier, more compact, or just more clean looking. IE no need to use signs to keep water confined in a certain space. Which off the top of my head could be used for boat storage/launch systems and mob traps/sorters and yet they fall into the redstone area when really they don't even need to use redstone.
#9 Oct 1, 2011
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Mcedit would make floating water
Mcedit would also make big holes into the void so if you fall while swimming you're doomed
Please help me by clicking on le egg!

So you wake up on a beach one day, and remember NOTHING. (Except your degree teachings in Engineering, Wilderness Survival, Metal work, Physics, Tech, Psychology, History, Dynamics, and Blocks.) You mine and build and survive for years and years.
#11 Oct 1, 2011
This was done in mod-free add-on program free 1.8 vanilla creative mode. It should also work in survival mode, except you'd have to push the ice into place with pistons or make molds of water and wait for them to freeze.
#14 Oct 1, 2011
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Redstone related how?
Oh, right. As an update detector with manual reset, like the ones that became obsolete with beta 1.2 or 1.3 I think.
I agree... With your username!
Anta baka?!
#15 Oct 1, 2011
Even though the basic floating water glitch doesn't require redstone to create, it has many uses in redstone devices and systems. For example here I built a solid water bridge over a redstone powered railway, allowing boats to pass over the railway rather than requiring the railway to pass over the river.

I'm also aware that this glitch isn't newly discovered, but as far as I know nobody has actually used it to build anything before.
#16 Oct 1, 2011
It also can be used to make a completely vertical ladder that only occupies a 1 block column. Normal ladders occupy at least two columns, the column the ladder is in and the column the ladder is placed on.

Just stand in it and press jump and you go straight up. It seems to be about as fast as regular ladder too.
#17 Oct 1, 2011
Hexus_One
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Even though the basic floating water glitch doesn't require redstone to create, it has many uses in redstone devices and systems. For example here I built a solid water bridge over a redstone powered railway, allowing boats to pass over the railway rather than requiring the railway to pass over the river.
*snip*
I'm also aware that this glitch isn't newly discovered, but as far as I know nobody has actually used it to build anything before.
Do the rails switching on and off update the water blocks around them?
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#18 Oct 1, 2011
Do the rails switching on and off update the water blocks around them?
Yes, any block update that's in a directly adjacent spot vertically or horizontally will cause them to start flowing.
But that's simple enough to work around, if you want to be able to turn the railway on and off. Just don't put the powered rail in every spot, space it out so it only touches the floating water diagonally. Block updates aren't registered diagonally. That won't affect your speed much if at all.

Or just make the bridge wider so it isn't touching the rail.
#19 Oct 1, 2011
Ok, this was really fun to ride on:

It's a boat ramp! You can sail right up or down with ease.
Just make sure each step takes up at least two blocks before going up a level. If it's very steep and goes up a level each block the boat will bounce back down.
#20 Oct 1, 2011
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Ya I've know about this glitch used it to stop my fall in a mineshaft, but I like the ramp and brdge you made with it going over the railway.
The first computers were the size of rooms, MC computers are the size of cities.
#21 Oct 1, 2011
Ya I've know about this glitch used it to stop my fall in a mineshaft, but I like the ramp and brdge you made with it going over the railway.
Thanks! I'm thinking of extending the ramp up to the height limit. Or maybe having it lead up to a large flat floating grid of water you can sail around on.
#22 Oct 1, 2011
FreeFell
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Thanks! I'm thinking of extending the ramp up to the height limit. Or maybe having it lead up to a large flat floating grid of water you can sail around on.
Anyone else thinking of the old glass-bottomed navy joke?
On topic: How small of a "boat elevator" can you manage with this, footprint wise? It might just replace the older water glitches.
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Home
Minecraft Forum
Minecraft: Java Edition
Survival Mode
How To Make Magical Floating Water

How do you make floating water?

The “trick” to this experiment is air pressure. In this experiment, you're basically going to pour water in a glass, put a slip of paper over the glass, turn the glass upside down, and watch as air pressure keeps the paper in place—and the water “floating” in the glass.

make floating water minecraft