What is a Block?
Bitcoin transaction data is immutably recorded by miners into files called blocks.
Each block references the previous block that it was built upon allowing the record of history to form a linear sequence over time, known as the block chain.
New transactions are constantly being processed by miners into new blocks which are added to the end of the chain.
As new blocks are added to the tip of the chain, blocks are buried deeper and deeper and become harder to change or remove, forming part of the Bitcoin network's security model.
Because each block contains a reference to the prior block, the collection of all blocks in existence can be said to form a chain. However, it's possible for the chain to have temporary splits - for example, if two miners arrive at two different valid solutions for the same block at the same time, unbeknownst to one another. The peer-to-peer network is designed to resolve these splits within a short period of time, so that only one branch of the chain survives.
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