01
A nonce changes the input.
A nonce is a number you vary. Here, we add it to a short notebook string. Even a small input change produces a very different hash.
An educational Bitcoin mining simulator
Find the pattern.
Understand the work.
Change a nonce. Watch a hash. Discover why finding a tiny target takes repeated attempts—one demo block at a time.
INTERACTIVE FIELD NOTES01 / PROOF OF WORK
THE HASH EXPLORER
READYLATEST HASHSINGLE SHA-256 · 256 BITS
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Press Start to explore a short demonstration string.
Ready when you are. Everything happens in this tab.
Attempts this run0
Demo blocks found0Learning only. No coins.
Next nonce0
Your experiment
A small target. A fresh perspective.
00Look for this prefix at the start of a hash.
About 1 in 256 per attempt—not a promise of when a match appears.
Simulation runs in this tab. No account or saved simulation history.
RECENT ATTEMPTS
LAST 6 · THIS RUN ONLYYour first attempt starts with nonce 0. Each new nonce changes the input.
Deliberately paced, not a hardware benchmark. Each run stops after a match, 8,000 attempts or 30 seconds. Changing a setting clears the current run.
Three ideas. One experiment.
THE CONCEPTS BEHIND THE MOTION02
A hash is deterministic.
SHA-256 produces 64 hexadecimal digits. The same input produces the same hash. Finding a desired prefix requires trying inputs; it is not progress toward a guaranteed result.
03
A smaller target takes patience.
Each extra zero hex digit makes a match about 16 times less likely per attempt. Our tiny prefix target makes the search visible; it is not Bitcoin network difficulty.
Bitcoin in plain English
BEYOND THIS SIMULATION04
Bitcoin is digital, not a coin image.
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital money system. The familiar gold coin is an illustration, not what the network sends. A public transaction record lets software determine which amounts can still be spent.
05
Transactions link into blocks.
A wallet uses private keys to sign spending instructions. Miners collect transactions into candidate blocks. Full nodes independently check the rules. Each block refers to its predecessor, forming the blockchain.
06
Mining is only one part.
A qualifying hash is not enough: the block must also obey Bitcoin's other rules. On Bitcoin mainnet, difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks, aiming for roughly ten minutes per block on average. Individual blocks can take much less or much longer.