How long does Copper take to oxidize in Minecraft?

Copper is a unique smelted block that you can place throughout your home in Minecraft. Over time, this material will change from a deep orange to a green in a process known as oxidation. To stop it, you can use a honeycomb on any of your Copper blocks, turning it into a waxed block, which prevents further oxidation on it, which essentially freezes it in the current color. When you first place down that Copper block, how long do you have before the oxidation comes into play? There are four stages of color.

The process of Copper going through oxidation is not increased or quickened by being exposed to the elements, so rain, water, and air do not have any effect on it. Instead, it’s all about ticks in your Minecraft world. A tick occurs every 0.05 seconds, so 20 ticks are happening every second in your game. There’s a random tick happening in the background, but roughly every 20 minutes, you can expect a Copper block to go through oxidation.

It doesn’t matter if you leave your blocks outside or hoard them away inside your settlement, away from the natural elements of your Minecraft world. Eventually, they will go through the oxidation process unless they’re waxed down using a honeycomb. You can revert an oxidized piece of Copper to its original color by hitting it with an ax or if it is struck by lightning. If you’re using an ax, it has to be a waxed version of Copper.