Structure of a block in a blockchain – Blockchain’s red cardigan story, Part 2

It would be helpful if you have read the Part 1 of the story that explains the concept of blockchain with a help of a very simple example of a red cardigan in a family. It would help you get some understanding about blockchains and  about importance of getting some knowledge about the structure of a block in a blockchain.

In simplest terms, a block in a blockchain is something like a form with contains a few details and is filed in a records folder. Each form would essentially have two parts –

1. The information/data – the information set that the creators or the users want every user to consume
2. Reference to the previous page – the binding glue, that makes the every link chained to their previous link – this is one of the biggest highlights of the whole blackchain technology story.
   • In terms of our Blockchain’s red cardigan story, each paper would have following data:-
     1. The date and time when this paper was created (signifying the ownership change event of the red cardigan) – [data]
     2. Who was the previous owner of the red cardigan? – [data]
     3. What did it cost the current owner? – [data]
     4. A unique code belonging to the preceding page. – [reference]

Each paper would contain the index information of the previous page so that the father (or the creator of the page and whoever-in-the-world-wants-to) knows that *this* page is

• A legitimate part of *their* folder
• At the right location

So, that is how simple yet strong structure of a block is. You don’t have to forget the importance of the data here though. Technology apart, the whole point of blockchains being so popular is the way they help the integrity of the data.

You might have a disturbing question here, which is – doesn’t having “whoever-in-the-world-wants-to” defeats the whole point of its sanctity? The beauty of the genius at display here is – the question is the answer itself. Because anyone can *see* the next and previous block(s) (and virtually the whole chain), the legitimate list of (past and current) owners of the red cardigan would inherently be public.