Elements of a ‘block’ in Blockchain Technology.

The perks of blockchain technology are not unknown to anyone, today. From being the fastest technology in the run to the safest platform for data-keeping and now to the smart contracts, the list goes on and the end is still unknown. Its features of security, speed and elimination of the intermediaries has embossed its ideal efficiencies in the recent period. It’s always said that blockchain is a distributed ledger that stores data in the cryptographically secured blocks. Okay, but the blocks don’t just have data stored into it. Yes, each block consists of not just data, but a few more essentials. We’ll be discussing those elements further here.
Firstly, the block components are divided into two sections- Block Header and Block Body. Block header is the set of information about the existence and legality of the block. Block Body is the data to be stored.
Initiating with the block header. The block header has the software I’d no., a key of the previous block, Merkle’s root hash, time details and the nonce. Now to discuss these points in detail here are the points to be driven below:
a) The Software I’d- The software I’d is the version no. of the software that reflects the identity of the technology that has been used for the support of that particular block.

b) A key of the previous block- The key is the hash that has to be carried forward from the previous block to the new block. On the creation of a new block the right previous hash I’d is carried forward for a hassle-free chain formation. The previous block’s hash is not taken forward just in the case of the Genesis block or the first block of the blockchain.

c) The Merkle’s Root Hash- As a block can store multiple transactions, the transactions are organized into sets by the usage of the Merkle Tree. How? This is how, the Merkle’s tree firstly starts dividing the number of transactions into half, then again dividing the ‘divided value’ into half and so on. This division process continues until one code is left. That’s the Merkle Root. This root is the hash value-combination of all the transactions in that block.

d) Time details- The proper name for this is ‘Timestamp.’ Timestamp is the time when the particular block was chained with the existing blocks in a blockchain. Timestamp is stored into seconds.

e) The Nonce- The nonce is the mysterious code that is used just once into the hash code. Nonce is the key to make any hash code tamper-proof. Nonce prevents the system from double spending and replay attacks.

Now coming to the block body, the block body simply is the data stored into the block. That is the basic information for which the creation of any block takes place and to safeguard which the header of the block is maintained.

These are the set of data that each block contains.