Updated 23 October 2026. Facts on this page come from minecraft.wiki, minecraft.net and the live Artemis PvP server; sources are listed at the bottom.
Chunks and Ticks Explained
A chunk is a 16x16 column of the world, split into 16-block-tall sections; the game loads the world chunk by chunk. A tick is one run of the game loop: 20 per second, so one every 0.05 seconds, and a Minecraft day is exactly 24,000 ticks.
What is a chunk in Minecraft?
A chunk is a 16x16-block segment of the world that runs from the bottom to the top. The game divides worlds into chunks so it only has to load and update the parts near players. Each chunk is split into 16-block-tall sections, often called subchunks.
Chunks matter for farms and redstone: on Java, crops grow and mobs act only in chunks inside the simulation distance, and slime chunks are chosen chunk by chunk.
What is a tick?
A game tick is one run of the game loop. The game runs at 20 ticks per second, one tick every 0.05 seconds (50 milliseconds), so a full day takes exactly 24,000 ticks (20 minutes). If a computer cannot keep up, the game slows down.
Redstone counts in redstone ticks of 2 game ticks (0.1 seconds). Random ticks are separate: they update randomly chosen blocks, and the random tick speed game rule sets how many; set too high, it can make each tick take too long.
Tick timings worth knowing
| Thing | Ticks | Time |
|---|---|---|
| One game tick | 1 | 0.05 s |
| One redstone tick | 2 | 0.1 s |
| Invulnerability after a hit | 10 | 0.5 s |
| Eating | 32 | 1.6 s |
| TNT fuse | 80 | 4 s |
| Nether portal (Survival) | 80 | 4 s |
| Full day | 24,000 | 20 min |
What does lag have to do with ticks?
The game aims for 20 ticks a second. When a computer cannot keep up, fewer ticks run each second and everything that runs on ticks slows down with it: mobs, crops, redstone and the day itself. A very high random tick speed is one known cause.
Where do you start on ArtemisPvP?
Frequently asked questions
How big is a chunk?
16 by 16 blocks, from the bottom of the world to the top.
How many ticks are in a second?
20, one every 0.05 seconds.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these pages; the wording is ours.