<p>The number of nodes is irrelevant.  What matters is how much hashpower you have; i.e. what kind of hardware is attached to that node, and how rapidly it can perform SHA256D hashes.   If your node is an ordinary computer with no specialized ASIC hardware, then at today's difficulty levels, for all practical purposes, you will never mine a block (on average, it will take several million years to do so).</p>

<p>See <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_soon_might_I_expect_to_generate_a_block.3F" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_soon_might_I_expect_to_generate_a_block.3F</a> to learn about how to estimate the time to mine one block given your hashpower.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-15T17:22:08.943Z
We have tons of questions and answers about the basic principles of mining.  See for instance https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/51756/how-does-mining-process-takes-approximately-10-minutes?rq=1, https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/148/what-exactly-is-mining/760#760
Nate Eldredge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-15T18:00:42.350Z
I am trying to understand how a new block is added to the chain every 10 minutes. If we have thousands or even millions of nodes solving for the nonce, and if it takes 1000s of years to mine 1 block, then how the all of the previous block had been added? The confusion arose from the point that all nodes try to solve for a nonce, once one of them finds it, the remaining will drop their work and start over again. So does the latency come from this point (repeated attempts to solve for block? Because apparently, if 1 block is being added every 10 minuets, then someone, an (ASIC??) is succeeding.
Dino
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-15T18:11:36.770Z
You have to understand the random and progress-free nature of mining.  The concept of "drop their work" is meaningless; in some sense you drop your work after every unsuccessful nonce.  See for instance https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3941/does-mining-a-block-force-others-to-restart-their-work
Nate Eldredge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-15T17:14:55.030Z
2018-08-15T17:23:12.277Z
2018-08-15T17:23:12.277Z
Nate Eldredge
<p>Hypothetically, if you only have one node mining in the network, how much time does it take to solve for the nonce assuming for example the current difficulty? </p>

<difficulty><nonce><time>
Mining a new block
Dino
# Mining a new block

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-15)

Hypothetically, if you only have one node mining in the network, how much time does it take to solve for the nonce assuming for example the current difficulty?

**Tags:** difficulty, nonce, time


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-08-15. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

The number of nodes is irrelevant. What matters is how much hashpower you have; i.e. what kind of hardware is attached to that node, and how rapidly it can perform SHA256D hashes. If your node is an ordinary computer with no specialized ASIC hardware, then at today's difficulty levels, for all practical purposes, you will never mine a block (on average, it will take several million years to do so).

See <https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty#How_soon_might_I_expect_to_generate_a_block.3F> to learn about how to estimate the time to mine one block given your hashpower.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: We have tons of questions and answers about the basic principles of mining.  See for instance https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/51756/how-does-mining-process-takes-approximately-10-minutes?rq=1, https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/148/what-exactly-is-mining/760#760  
> **username_0**: I am trying to understand how a new block is added to the chain every 10 minutes. If we have thousands or even millions of nodes solving for the nonce, and if it takes 1000s of years to mine 1 block, then how the all of the previous block had been added? The confusion arose from the point that all nodes try to solve for a nonce, once one of them finds it, the remaining will drop their work and start over again. So does the latency come from this point (repeated attempts to solve for block? Because apparently, if 1 block is being added every 10 minuets, then someone, an (ASIC??) is succeeding.  
> **username_1**: You have to understand the random and progress-free nature of mining.  The concept of "drop their work" is meaningless; in some sense you drop your work after every unsuccessful nonce.  See for instance https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3941/does-mining-a-block-force-others-to-restart-their-work  

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