Sand
Sand — block.
Obtaining
Sand is collected directly with a shovel or by hand and can also be bought from a wandering trader for one emerald. The same block appears in generated structure chests, so a player can obtain it before reaching a desert.
Loot tableSandDetailed drops are not published yet.| Efficient tool | Shovel |
|---|---|
| Wandering trader | 8 sand for 1 emerald |
| Generated loot | Desert pyramid and other sand-associated structure chests |
| Renewable route | Wandering-trader offers |
Breaking
Sand is a soft falling block. A shovel is the efficient tool, but the block still drops itself when the normal block loot condition survives.
| Hardness | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Blast resistance | 0.5 |
| Tool | ShovelTool |
| Efficient tool | Shovel |
| Loot table | blocks/sand.json |
| Drop | 1 sand |
Natural generation
Sand forms beaches and deserts and also occurs as underwater disks in many Overworld biomes. It is additionally used in desert wells, desert pyramids, ocean ruins, and trial-chamber entrances. The disk feature replaces dirt or grass in shallow, round patches and places sandstone below a disk when the block underneath is air.
| Surface locations | Beaches and deserts |
|---|---|
| Underground or underwater feature | Disk sand |
| Generated structures | Desert wells, desert pyramids, ocean ruins, and trial-chamber entrances |
| Drop | 1 sand |
Usage
The block occupies a standard full volume and is shown with an isometric preview.
| Shape | Full cube |
|---|---|
| Rendering | Isometric preview |
Crafting ingredient
Sand is a shared ingredient for building and utility chains. Four sand craft one sandstone, smelting a sand-tagged ingredient produces glass, and alternating sand with gunpowder makes TNT; concrete powder recipes also consume sand.
| Sandstone | 4 sand → 1 sandstone |
|---|---|
| Glass | Smelt a sand-tagged ingredient |
| TNT | 4 sand or red sand + 5 gunpowder → 1 TNT |
| Concrete powder | Sand plus a dye and gravel |
Sounds
Breaking, falling, hitting, placing, and walking use the sand sound family; the idle event is used for the ambient desert-sand effect. A note block on Sand produces the snare sound. Nearby sand-family blocks can also trigger the modern ambient sand sounds.
| Note block instrument | snare |
|---|---|
| Break | block.sand.break |
| Fall | block.sand.fall |
| Hit | block.sand.hit |
| Place | block.sand.place |
| Step | block.sand.step |
| Note block | Snare |
Behavior
When the block below is free, Sand schedules a short tick and becomes a falling-block entity. This keeps unsupported beaches and ceilings from remaining suspended in the world; the falling dust also uses Sand's own colour. A falling block can bury an entity, turn into an item when it lands on a non-solid block, and float on an upward bubble column until the column is blocked.
| Stack size | 64 |
|---|---|
| Solid block | Yes |
| Map color | sand |
| Note block instrument | snare |
| State count | 1 |
| Unsupported block | Becomes a falling-block entity |
| Entity collision | Can suffocate a mob or player it covers |
| Non-solid landing | Drops as an item |
| Bubble column | Floats on an upward column |
Data values
The block uses the stable `minecraft:sand` identifier and the sand map colour. Its registry properties mark it as a falling block with 0.5 hardness, sand sounds, and the snare note-block instrument.
| Identifier | minecraft:sand |
|---|---|
| Version | Minecraft 26.2 |
| Blockstate | assets/minecraft/blockstates/sand.json |
| Loot table | SandLoot table |
| Hardness | 0.5 |
| Instrument | Snare |
| Sound family | Sand |
| Falling behaviour | FallingBlock entity when unsupported |
| Loot | blocks/sand.json |
| Item tag | #minecraft:sand |
| Smelting tag | #minecraft:smelts_to_glass |
History
Sand has kept its gravity-driven role while accumulating uses in glass, sandstone, TNT, concrete powder, turtle nesting, and newer world-generation features.
| 0.0.14a | Sand added as a world block |
|---|---|
| 1.12 | Concrete powder recipes added |
| 1.13 | Warm-ocean and turtle-related sand uses expanded |
| 1.19.4 | Desert wells and desert pyramids gained additional sand generation |
| 26.2 | The snapshot briefly tested sand absorption by sulfur cubes before removing it in a later snapshot |
- 26.2Block facts were published from the verified snapshot.Provenance: 918feb41c87c05a6f3e94e327fb01a82543180a2376b65610c6f0521456532a5
Gallery
See also
References
The falling behaviour and registry properties come from the Java sand and falling-block implementations. World generation, tags, loot, and trader availability remain explicit local records so the page can distinguish terrain generation from item acquisition.
| Source | Validated DeepMine snapshot |
|---|---|
| Snapshot ID | 918feb41c87c05a6f3e94e327fb01a82543180a2376b65610c6f0521456532a5 |
| Digest | ac75928e1baec5eab80dcc662da90483f9af3d84d6efc49be3d37d6265c75b25 |
| Block implementation | `net/minecraft/world/level/block/SandBlock.java` |
| Falling entity implementation | `net/minecraft/world/level/block/FallingBlock.java` |
| Block states | `assets/minecraft/blockstates/sand.json` |
| Block loot | `data/minecraft/loot_table/blocks/sand.json` |
| Sand tag | `data/minecraft/tags/block/sand.json` |
| Disk generation | `data/minecraft/worldgen/placed_feature/disk_sand.json` |
| Trader offer | `data/minecraft/villager_trade/wandering_trader/emerald_sand.json` |
Navigation
Data and provenance
minecraft:sand
Snapshot digest verified.
ac75928e1baec5eab80dcc662da90483f9af3d84d6efc49be3d37d6265c75b25Provenance and publication
- Readiness
- Pending
- Snapshot
- 918feb41c87c05a6f3e94e327fb01a82543180a2376b65610c6f0521456532a5
- Source set
- 918feb41c87c05a6f3e94e327fb01a82543180a2376b65610c6f0521456532a5
- Entity identifier
- minecraft:sand
- Digest
- ac75928e1baec5eab80dcc662da90483f9af3d84d6efc49be3d37d6265c75b25
- Missing locales
- ru, en