In 18w07b, Magma blocks and Soul Sand create bubble columns in which players will sink in or rise in, respectively.
Problem 1: The bubbles columns generated from magma blocks are flowing downwards.
Problem 2: Bubble columns produced from Soul Sand blocks flow upwards, yet players also float upwards.
In the real world, heated underwater sources, such as hydro-thermal vents, will produce warm packets of water or air. Because these packets are warmer than the surrounding water, they will begin rising up towards a state of lower density (ie the surface of the water). As a result, a higher density object, like a person, will sink quicker when inside one of these currents.
If a bubble stream is flowing downwards, that would indicate the material is more dense than the surrounding water above, and thus a person would find it easier to float upwards in a higher density stream.
Suggested solution: Simply reverse the directions the bubbles are moving. This will maintain physical consistency: players should expect to move upward in a downward-moving bubble stream, and downward in an upward-moving bubble stream.
tl;dr: The visual apperance of the bubble directions do not make sense given the physical behavior experienced in game.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uen5pMoMS5w&t=10s, https://mythresults.com/bubble-trouble, I am a physicist
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I agree that arguing with real physics isn't usually best, but given that Minecraft is a game that a large amount of children play, it might be frustrating to science teachers when their students might mistake Minecraft's mechanics for real world mechanics. I'd hate to be teaching a physics class and have to tell them that Minecraft is doing something wrong.
My argument for visually reversing the bubbles for soul sand was basically "If a bubble stream is flowing downwards, that would indicate the material is more dense than the surrounding water above, and thus a person would find it easier to float upwards in a higher density stream" ....which is, well, just reversed mechanics for consistency.
Ok, I get what you mean and I have to agree, reversing the visual bubble flow direction would definitely make sense 😉
@zombie hunter It's a moot point regarding traps, since magma blocks are extremely visible in the depths of the ocean, and since soulsand doesn't naturally form in the overworld, a player would know immediately that the bubble column is a trap, regardless of the direction the bubbles flow in. On a custom map, again the magma blocks give it away even if the bubbles flow correctly.
@Connor Johnston By the time those children are actually able to take a physics class (they wouldn't be children anymore), they should be able to distinguish between game mechanics and real life mechanics, and easily realize which game mechanics don't make realistic sense.
There should still be a downward bubble column for practical applications, such as having up and down elevators that are easily distinguishable from one another. Perhaps the behavior of magma blocks and soulsand should be swapped, since it makes more sense for bubbles to rise from a lava vent, and since soulsand is not a real world material, its behavior doesn't need to make realistic sense.
Arguing with real physics in this game is probably not the best idea to begin with, there's more the question what makes sense gameplay-wise. Mojang mentioned that they want to make magma blocks spawn naturally in oceans, creating traps that sink boats, so it makes more sense for them to suck things downward. Although a trap shouldn’t look like trap, so making the bubble stream visually rise while the player still sinks makes kinda sense, so I have to agree with your solution. Also, large amounts of bubbles in water can in fact lower the density enough that humans or animals sink like a rock (one reason why you shouldn't try to swim in the aeration tanks of a sewage treatment plant), while the bubbles themselves still rise. Not sure how to argue about visually reversing the bubble flow direction for soul sand, apart from keeping the "reversed mechanics" consistent (sucks bubbles down, pushes things up?).