Sand

Sand is a gravity-affected block found abundantly in deserts and beaches, and less commonly in or near surface water.

Sand

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0.5
Hardness	0.5
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color (Java)	2 SAND

{
    "title": "Sand",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "Yes",
            "label": "(link to Renewable resource article, displayed as Renewable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Yes (64)",
            "label": "Stackable"
        },
        {
            "field": "<span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"height:32px;width:32px;--vertical-align:middle\">(link to File:SlotSprite Shovel Required.png article, displayed as 32x32px|link=Shovel|alt=|class=pixel-image|)</span>",
            "label": "Tool"
        },
        {
            "field": "0.5",
            "label": "(link to Explosion#Blast resistance article, displayed as Blast resistance)"
        },
        {
            "field": "0.5",
            "label": "(link to Breaking#Blocks by hardness article, displayed as Hardness)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Light article, displayed as Luminous)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Opacity article, displayed as Transparent)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Flammable article, displayed as Flammable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "Catches fire from (link to lava article, displayed as lava)"
        },
        {
            "field": "<span style=\"display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap;\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; background-color:  rgb(247, 233, 163)\n; border: 1px solid #888; border-radius: 0.3em; width: 1em; height: 1em; vertical-align: -0.36em; margin-right: -0.1em\"><br></span>  2 SAND\n</span>",
            "label": "(link to Map color article, displayed as Map color) <small>((link to Java Edition article, displayed as Java))</small>"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "Sand"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Sand.png"
    ]
}

Obtaining

Breaking

Sand can be broken without tools, but a shovel is the fastest method of obtaining it.

Block	Sand
Hardness	0.5
Tool
Breaking time (sec)
Default	0.75
Wooden	0.4
Stone	0.2
Iron	0.15
Diamond	0.1
Netherite	0.1
Golden	0.1
Options
Efficiency	0
Haste	0 JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Sand generates naturally in many biomes of the Overworld, in disk-like formations near ponds and rivers. It generates in abundance in deserts and beaches, generally in four-block-deep layers, supported by sandstone below. Sand also generates as the ocean floor of lukewarm oceans, deep lukewarm oceans and warm oceans, in a single layer not supported by sandstone. It usually generates in quantities of 545 blocks per chunk on average in non-desert biomes.

Sand is also used to cover up buried treasure chests depending on where the chest generates in. (In this case, sand is used to cover up buried treasure chests that generate in beaches and ocean floors that are composed of sand, but in some cases stone or sandstone might be used instead).

Sand also generates as part of warm ocean ruins and some cold ocean ruins, some desert village houses, desert wells, desert pyramids and have a chance to generate in trial chamber entrances.

Sand can spawn floating in the air. The floating cluster of sand falls when one of the sand blocks receives an update (e.g. when a block is placed near it or when a block near it is broken).

Mob loot

An enderman holding a sand block drops the block upon death.

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	[hide]Chance
Java Edition and Bedrock Edition
Sand	Desert Pyramid	Chest	1–8	59% { "item": "Sand", "stacksize": "1–8", "chance": 0.5904, "structure": "Desert Pyramid", "container": "Chest" }

Trading

Wandering traders sell 8 sand for one emerald. This is the only renewable method of obtaining sand. Due to its 20 minute spawning rate and limited number of trades per spawn, it is more practical to obtain it through other means.

Post-generation

Suspicious sand becomes regular sand when brushed.

Usage

If the supporting block below a block of sand is removed, it falls until it lands on the next available block. More specifically, the sand block turns into a "falling block" entity, which is affected by gravity; when the falling block lands on a block with a solid top surface, it becomes a block again. More information about the falling block entity is available in the main article listed above.

If falling sand lands and covers the head of a mob or the player, the mob or player buried in it continuously receives suffocation damage. If falling sand lands in the space occupied by a non-solid block (such as torch, rail, or redstone dust) or a block less than a full block tall (such as slab or soul sand), the sand drops and turns into an item. If it falls onto a cobweb, it falls slowly until it has gone through completely; if it touches the ground while still inside the cobweb, the sand becomes an item. Sand that falls onto a lifting bubble column floats on top of the water until the bubble column is blocked or removed.

Though TNT does not break any blocks if it explodes underwater, if sand, concrete powder (in one-block-deep water only), or gravel falls and covers the TNT before it explodes, blocks are broken as normal. This trick can be used to collect blocks underwater, or break into underwater structures such as the ocean monument without mining.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	[hide]Description
Concrete Powder	Matching Dye + Sand + Gravel	8888888888888888	Red sand cannot be used in place of sand.
Sandstone	Sand
TNT	Gunpowder + Sand		It is possible to use any combination of sand and red sand.
White Concrete Powder or Blue Concrete Powder or Brown Concrete Powder or Black Concrete Powder	Bone Meal or Lapis Lazuli or Cocoa Beans or Ink Sac + Sand + Gravel	8888	‌

Smelting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	[hide]Smelting recipe
Glass	Sand + Any fuel	0.1

Construction

Sand can be used in the construction of airlocks and mob suffocation traps. Because sand falls, it can also be used for construction underwater while the player remains above the surface of the water.

Farms

Sand is required for farming cactus, and can also be used for farming bamboo, sugar cane and kelp.

Turtle eggs

A turtle egg can hatch only if it is placed on sand, red sand, or suspicious sand.

Note Blocks

Sand can be placed under note blocks to produce "snare drum" sound.

Ambience

This block configuration allows the central sand block to rarely play ambient sounds.

Sand emits sandy ambient noises independent from the current biome if there is a sand, red sand, terracotta or stained terracotta block 8 blocks away in 3 of the 4 horizontal directions. The central sand block must have access to the sky (i.e. should not be covered by any opaque or light-filtering block). The 3 other required blocks can be placed at different Y levels from the central block, but must be located on the world surface (must not have any non-air blocks above them).

Additional windy ambient sounds play if the sand block is located in a desert, badlands, wooded badlands, or eroded badlands biome, provided it still meets the conditions described above.

If all the conditions for the respective ambient sounds are met, on each tick a sand block has an ¹⁄₁₆₀₀ chance to play a sandy noise and an ¹⁄₁₀₀₀₀ chance to play a windy sound.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

[hide] v t e sand sound type
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.sand.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.sand.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.sand.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.sand.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.sand.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide] v t e sand sound type
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.sand	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.sand	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.sand	0.23	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.sand	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.sand	0.15	1.0
	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.sand	0.05	1.0
	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.sand	0.14	1.0

Unique

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Sandy sounds	Blocks	Randomly when when there is a block of terracotta, sand or red sand 8 blocks away in 3 of the 4 horizontal directions at the surface of the world	block.sand.idle	subtitles.block.sand.idle​	?	?	?
	​Windy sounds‌	Blocks	Randomly when when there is a block of terracotta, sand or red sand 8 blocks away in 3 of the 4 horizontal directions at the surface of the world and in a desert, badlands, wooded badlands or eroded badlands	block.sand.wind	subtitles.block.sand.wind​	?	?	?

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Item tags	[hide]Translation key
Sand	sand	Block & Item	bamboo_plantable_on enderman_holdable sand lush_ground_replaceable mineable/shovel	sand	block.minecraft.sand

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Alias ID	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	[hide]Translation key
Sand	sand	sand / 0	12	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.sand.default.name

Falling block entity

Falling Block

Hitbox size	Height: 0.98 blocks Width: 0.98 blocks

{
    "title": "Falling Block",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "Height: 0.98 blocks<br>Width: 0.98 blocks",
            "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [],
    "images": []
}

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Dynamic block entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
  • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] BlockState: The falling block represented by this entity.
    • [String] Name: The resource location of the block.
    • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Properties: Optional. The block states of the block.
      • [String] Name: The block state name and its value.
  • [Byte] CancelDrop: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the block should be destroyed instead of placed after landing on a solid block. When true, the block is not dropped as an item, even if the DropItem tag is set to true. However, if the entity is deleted due to its Time value being too high, this tag is ignored and an item is dropped depending on the DropItem tag. CancelDrop defaults to 1 for falling suspicious sand and suspicious gravel, and 0 for the other vanilla falling blocks and any summoned falling block.
  • [Byte] DropItem: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the block should drop as an item when it breaks. Any block that does not have an item form with the same ID as the block does not drop even if this is set.
  • [Float] FallHurtAmount: Multiplied by the FallDistance to calculate the amount of damage to inflict. By default this value is 2HP for anvils, and 6HP for pointed dripstone.
  • [Int] FallHurtMax: The maximum hit points of damage to inflict on entities that intersect this falling block. For vanilla falling blocks, always 40HP × 20.
  • [Byte] HurtEntities: 1 or 0 (true/false) – true if the block should hurt entities it falls on. Defaults to 1 for anvils and pointed dripstone and to 0 for the other vanilla falling blocks and any summoned falling block.
  • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] TileEntityData: Optional. The tags of the block entity for this block.
  • [Int] Time: The number of ticks the entity has existed. When Time goes above 600, or above 100 while the block is at Y=-64 or is outside building height, the entity is deleted.

History

[hide]Java Edition Classic
May 21, 2009							Notch shows interest in adding sand.
May 23, 2009							Notch says he accomplished adding sand.
0.0.14a							Added sand.
							Sand behaves similarly to gravel, which was also added during this update.
							Sand blocks appear naturally only in one block-thick beaches (usually by water or in the middle of a landscape). These beaches are always at and below ocean level.
							Rather than falling by turning into a falling block entity, sand instantly appears at the lowest point it can go when placed above an air block, without any sort of falling animation. This behavior lasted until the Seecret Friday 1 update, in Infdev.
							A glitch occurring at this time allows players to raise the height of a fluid block by placing sand over it. The sand stays suspended in mid-air until it is broken. When broken, a fluid block corresponding to the type below the sand appears where the block was. The suspended fluid block remains immobile until a block was placed next to it, causing a flood.
							Map editors can be used to create floating sand, crashing the server if the sand was affected from its state.
0.0.15a							The texture of sand has been changed.
0.0.19a							Sand has been removed from the inventory (hotbar) because of a lack of space.
0.0.20a							Sand has been re-added to the inventory.
[hide]Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100110				Islands now have more sand.
			20100124-2119				Sand now generates in indev house chests.
			20100129-1447				Sand no longer generates in indev house chests.
			20100130				Sand is now used to craft TNT.
[hide]Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1414							Sand has been removed during map tests.
20100413							Sand has been re-added.
20100618							Sand now falls realistically.
							Sand can now be destroyed by falling onto a torch and slab
[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.2							Falling sand entities now behave better in multiplayer.
							Sand can now be used to craft sandstone.
1.3							Sand now generates with sandstone under it.
1.8			Pre-release				Due to changes in the terrain generator, sand no longer appears in beaches.
							Sand now generates anywhere that water does in large, circular patterns, noticeably larger than the similar patterns of clay. These can occur anywhere water does, including in village farms.
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6				The texture of sand has been slightly changed.
1.1			12w01a				Sand now appears in beaches again, which have been re-added as a biome, rather than terrain features.
1.4.2			12w38a				Sand now has new sounds when being walked on.
1.7.2			13w36a				Disks of sand are no longer found on ocean floors.
1.8			14w27b				Sand's textures now rotate randomly, making beaches and deserts look less uniform.
1.9			15w44a				Sand can now be found in desert pyramid chests.
1.10			16w20a				Falling dust particles for unsupported sand have been added.
1.12			17w06a				Sand can now be used to craft concrete powder.
1.13			18w07a				Turtles are added, which lay eggs on sand.
			18w08b				Sand now generates on the floors of warm and lukewarm ocean biomes.
			18w09a				Sand can now generate in underwater ruins.
1.14			18w43a				The textures of sand have been changed.
			18w44a				The texture of sand has been changed, once again.
			19w05a				Added wandering traders, which sell sand making sand a renewable resource.
1.19.4 Experiment Update 1.20			23w07a				Sand now generates in desert wells and desert pyramids.
							Sand can now be created after brushing suspicious sand.
1.20			23w12a				Sand now generates in trail ruins.
			23w16a				Sand no longer generates in trail ruins.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w45a				Sand can now generate in the entrances of trial chambers.
1.21.5			25w05a				Sand, red sand and terracotta of any color have a chance of playing ambient sounds when surrounded by any one of them on at least 3 sides 8 blocks away.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
Pre-release							Added sand.
v0.2.0							The texture of sand has been changed.
v0.3.0							Sand can now be used to craft sandstone.
v0.4.0							Sand can now be used to craft TNT.
v0.6.0							Sand is now affected by gravity.
v0.8.0			build 8				Falling sand now drops a resource when landing on a non-solid block.
v0.10.0			build 1				Falling dust particles for unsupported sand have been added.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				Sand can now be found inside desert pyramid chests.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				Sand can now be used to craft concrete powder.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.4.0			beta 1.2.14.2				Sand now generates on the floors of warm and lukewarm ocean biomes.
							Sand now sometimes generates on top of buried treasure chests in beaches.
			beta 1.2.20.1				Sand can now generate in some warm underwater ruins.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The textures of sand have been changed.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.4				Sand can now be bought from wandering traders.
1.12.0			beta 1.12.0.4				Wandering traders no longer sell regular sand.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.57				Trading has changed, wandering trader can now sell regular sand, making it renewable again.
1.21.70 Experiment Drop 1 2025			Preview 1.21.70.20				Sand, red sand and terracotta of any color have a chance of playing ambient sounds when surrounded by any one of them on at least 3 sides 8 blocks away.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added sand.
TU3							The textures of sand have been changed.
TU14		1.04					The sound made when mining sand has been changed.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Falling dust particles for unsupported sand have been added.
TU53	CU43	1.49	1.50	1.49	Patch 23	1.0.3	Sand can now be used to craft concrete powder.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Sand now generates on the floors of warm and lukewarm ocean biomes.
							Turtles are added, which lay eggs on sand.
			1.90				The textures of sand have been changed.
			1.91				Sand can now be bought from wandering traders.
							Sand can now be smelted in a blast furnace.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added sand.

Data history

[hide]Java Edition
1.8			14w10a				Sand with numerical metadata variants 2 through 15, which are inaccessible through normal gameplay, now have no model rather than appearing identical to sand.
			14w25a				Sand and its variant are now defined via block states rather than by numerical metadata. Prior to this version, the numerical metadata variants of sand were as follows: DV [hide]Description 0 Sand 1 Red Sand 2-15 Inaccessible "boring" variants of sand
			14w26a				Sand with metadata values 2 through 15 have now been completely removed from the game.
1.13			17w47a				The different block states for the sand ID have been split up into their own IDs.
							Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 12.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.21.20			Preview 1.21.20.22				The different block states for the sand ID have now been split up into their own IDs.
							Prior to this version, the block state variants of sand were as follows: Name Default value Allowed values [hide]Description sand_type normal normal Sand red Red Sand

Issues

Issues relating to "Sand" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Java Edition

• MC-130871 – Turtles when bred don't always produce eggs, but get stuck digging sand and play too many sounds and particles
• MC-182170 – Mobs spawn at a much higher than normal rate in Nether fortresses, especially in soul sand valleys
• MC-197802 – Players and villagers cannot get out of bed / respawn onto soul sand, mud, farmland, dirt path, or eight layers of snow
• MC-207866 – Some Entities get stuck in upwards (soul sand) bubble columns
• MC-236613 – Overworld surface blocks (grass, sand, snow, mud) are sometimes generated underground in caves
• MC-237738 – Air pockets can be created underwater when sand or gravel is updated
• MC-241757 – Sand and gravel within ocean ruins often convert into falling blocks when the world generates, causing performance drops and suspicious blocks to be destroyed
• MC-242542 – Soul Sand and Soul Soil generate at the bottom of the Nether
• MC-262948 – The player does not receive an instant slow after jumping onto the edge of the soul sand and honey block
• MC-264429 – If you walk on soul sand near lava and press w next to a block you'll jump
• And 39 other open issues.

Bedrock Edition

• MCPE-187938 – Sand block shading is now too light
• MCPE-194677 – Dead Bush & Sand ambient sounds don't work at all
• MCPE-82806 – Soul sand and honey blocks do not slow down the player when sprint jumping
• MCPE-35329 – Enderman will teleport in the daytime while on soul sand
• MCPE-51325 – Bubble columns have an "update" period when the soul sand / magma block is swapped.
• MCPE-102355 – Grass and flowers generates on sand and gravel (after a while, it breaks)
• MCPE-119242 – Sand falling next to lava source will display brief fire animation.
• MCPE-121293 – Scaffolding without a block below emits particles like floating sand or gravel
• MCPE-127189 – Bone meal sound when placing turtle eggs in sand
• MCPE-139036 – Trees found growing on Gravel, Sand, and Clay blocks
• And 22 other open issues.

Trivia

• If a block of sand has snow on it and is made to fall, the snow is destroyed‌ and does not drop snowballs.
• Because falling sand is considered an entity, it can be launched in a TNT cannon, similar to an ignited piece of TNT.
• Sand falls at the same rate when submerged in water, or lava, or air.
• If a player is standing on a stack of sand or gravel, and the stack falls onto a non-solid block, the player can fall fast enough to take damage or even die.
• Sand falls through torches without breaking, if there is air below the torch.
• Sand and gravel take about 0.45 seconds to fall one meter.
• The sand texture is rotated if a block of sand turns into a falling_block entity, similar to ignited TNT blocks. This is not the case with gravel.
• Because falling_block is considered an entity, blocks of sand without supports may disappear for a split second and a falling_block entity is summoned. This is also the case when it is landing, but the entity (not the block) disappears instead before a block is placed.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  Naturally generated sand in a desert.

• 

  Naturally generated sand in a beach.

• 

  Sand as generated as a warm ocean floor.

• 

  Naturally generated sand in a snowy beach.

• 

  Naturally generated sand in a lukewarm ocean.

• 

  Naturally generated sand in a warm ocean.

• 

  Floating sand in desert biome before updating it...

• 

  ... and after updating it.

• 

  A single floating sand block.

• 

  Another example of floating sand, this time above small water lake.

• 

  A lot of sand floating above a cave entrance.

• 

  A large amount of floating sand in desert, the torches were placed by a player.

• 

  A large amount of sand floating above a cave and being broken.

• 

  A large quantity of sand floating over a ravine.

• 

  2 blocks of sand floating with nothing below them.

• 

  Sand floating above a desert cave entrance.

• 

  Sand in a buffet-type beach.

• 

  Sand in a buffet-type snowy beach.

Mojang images

• 

  A block of sand.

• 

  Steve in despair with a block of sand.

See also

• Explained physics of falling blocks.
• Desert
• Sandstone

External links

• Block of the Week: Sand – Minecraft.net on March 11, 2017