What Happens If a Thread Can't Get the Lock?

If a thread tries to enter a synchronized method and the lock is already taken, the
thread is said to be blocked on the object's lock. Essentially, the thread goes into a kind of pool for that particular object and has to sit there until the lock is released and the thread can again become runnable/running. Just because a lock is released doesn't mean any particular thread will get it. There might be three threads waiting for a single lock, for example, and there's no guarantee that the thread that has waited the longest will get the lock first.
When thinking about blocking, it's important to pay attention to which objects
are being used for locking.
■ Threads calling non-static synchronized methods in the same class will
only block each other if they're invoked using the same instance. That's
because they each lock on this instance, and if they're called using two different
instances, they get two locks, which do not interfere with each other.
■ Threads calling static synchronized methods in the same class will always
block each other—they all lock on the same Class instance.
■ A static synchronized method and a non-static synchronized method
will not block each other, ever. The static method locks on a Class
instance while the non-static method locks on the this instance—these
actions do not interfere with each other at all.
■ For synchronized blocks, you have to look at exactly what object has been
used for locking. (What's inside the parentheses after the word synchronized?)
Threads that synchronize on the same object will block each other.
Threads that synchronize on different objects will not.