Sand

For other uses, see Sand (disambiguation).

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	2 SAND
Note block instrument	Snare Drum

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

Obtaining

Breaking

The suitable tool to break sand is a shovel.

Block	Sand
Hardness	0.5
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	10.75 (JE) 0.75 (BE)
Wooden	10.4 (JE) 0.4 (BE)
Stone	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)
Copper	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Iron	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Diamond	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Netherite	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Golden	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

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

Sand drops itself when it's destroyed.

Natural generation

Sand generates naturally in many biomes of the Overworld, in disk-like formations replacing dirt in shallow water, usually rivers, lakes, and oceans in most grassy biomes except swamps.

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 and warm oceans, in a single layer not supported by sandstone.

Sand also generates as part of warm ocean ruins and some cold ocean ruins, some desert village houses, desert wells, desert pyramids, and has 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). While floating, it emits the falling_dust‌^{[Java Edition only]} or the falling_dust_sand_particle‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} particle.

Mob loot

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

In Bedrock Edition, wandering traders have a chance of 25% (increased by 1% per level of Looting) to drop 8 sand when killed while showing the item as trade offer, if the player holds an emerald.

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	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 may sell 8 sand for 1 emerald. This is the only renewable method of obtaining sand. Because new wandering traders require at least 20 minutes to spawn and have a limited number of trades per spawn, it is more practical to obtain sand by other means.

Villager		Probability		Villager wants	Player receives	Trades in stock	Villager experience	Price multiplier
		JE	BE
Wandering Trader	Ordinary	6%	6%	Emerald	8 × Sand	8	—	—

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^[1]), 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.

In Bedrock Edition, if falling sand is stacked in cobweb is pushed with a piston, entities standing behind it teleports to the number of falling sand blocks stacked.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Notes
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	‌[Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only]

Smelting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Glass	Sand + Any fuel	0.1

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.

Ambience

Sand rarely emits ambient noises if there is sand or red sand 8 blocks away in at least 3 of the 4 horizontal directions. In order to emit sounds, the block directly above sand must be air.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

sand sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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​[until: JE 26.4]	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:

sand sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	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

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

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

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Alias ID	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Sand	sand	sand / 0	12	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.sand.default.name

Falling block entity

Falling Block

Hitbox size	Height: 0.98 blocks Width: 0.98 blocks

Videos

History

Development

Java Edition

Java Edition Classic
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.
							Map editors can be used to create floating sand, crashing the server if the sand was affected from its state.
0.0.15a (Multiplayer Test 1)							The texture of sand has been changed.
0.0.19a							Sand has been removed from the inventory (hotbar) because of a lack of space.
							This version is the one that introduces the concept of inventory sprites, and the sprite here can be seen in later versions.
0.0.20a							Sand has been re-added to the inventory.
0.0.23a							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.
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST							The glitch from above was fixed.
							Sand now falls through liquids instead of sitting atop them.
Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100110				Islands now have more sand.
			20100124-2119				Sand now generates in starting house chests.
			20100129-1447				Sand no longer generates in starting house chests.
			20100130				Sand is now used to craft TNT.
			20100201-0025				Sand can now be smelted into glass.
Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1414							Sand no longer generates in worlds due to map tests, making it unobtainable by normal means.[2]
20100413-1951							Sand now generates in worlds again.
20100618							Sand now falls realistically.
							Sand can now be destroyed by falling onto a torch or a slab.
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.
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				Sand is now renewable with the addition of wandering traders, which sell sand blocks.
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			25w07a				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.
							The sounds produced by sand and red sand are now categorized as ambient instead of block sounds.
1.21.6			25w15a				Ambient sand sounds no longer require sky access to play. Slightly decreased the chance for them to play. They now play in all biomes equally.
							Sand no longer makes ambient wind sounds (.block.sand.wind).
26.2			snap1				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb sand, giving them the regular archetype.
			snap6				Sulfur cubes can no longer absorb sand.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
Demo							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.
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.
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.
1.21.90			Preview 1.21.90.21				Ambient sand sounds no longer require sky access to play. Slightly decreased the chance for them to play. They now play in all biomes equally.
							Sand no longer makes ambient wind sounds (.block.sand.wind).
26.20 Experiment Drop 2 of 2026			Preview 26.20.23				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb sand, providing the football/regular effect to the mob.
26.30			Preview 26.30.20				Implemented all features from the "Drop 2 of 2026" experiment in vanilla gameplay.
			Preview 26.30.27				Sand can no longer be absorbed by sulfur cubes.

Legacy Console Edition

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.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added sand.

Data history

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.8			14w06a				Sand now uses the newly-implemented model json file models/block/cube.json; previously the geometry was defined in the game code itself.
			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 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.

Bedrock Edition

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 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.

Trivia

• If a block of sand has snow on it and is made to fall, the snow is destroyed‌^{[Java Edition only]} 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.^[3]
• 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 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

References

External links

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