Sand

"Sand spawns naturally in four-block-deep layers in various parts of most biomes of the Overworld. You'll find it everywhere from forests, to plains, to tundra and swamps. In Mesa biomes, you'll find a variant of sand that's red and acts exactly like regular sand except that you can't use it to make concrete. Actually, that sounds like a bug. Maybe we should fix that."

- Duncan Geere

Sand is a block affected by gravity.

Red sand is a variation of sand, the only differences being its color and that it cannot be used to craft concrete powder.

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

Natural generation
Sand generates naturally in many biomes of the Overworld, notably deserts, beaches, and rivers, generally in four-block-deep layers supported by stone and sandstone.

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).

Red sand generates naturally in badlands biomes and variants.

Both types of sand can spawn floating in the air. The floating cluster of sand will fall when one of the sand blocks receives an update (when a block is placed near it or when a block near it is broken).

Trading
8 Sand and 4 Red Sand sold by wandering trader for one emerald.

Usage
Sand, if there is no block below it, will fall until it lands on the next available block. When sand is being affected by gravity and falling, it exhibits a smooth falling animation.

If falling sand lands on a mob or the player and covers their head, the mob or player buried in it will continuously receive suffocation damage. If falling sand lands in the space occupied by a non-solid block (such as torches, slabs, rails, or redstone), it will drop and turn into an item. If it falls onto a cobweb, it will fall slowly until it has gone through completely; if it touches ground while still inside the cobweb, it will turn into an item.

Sand can be placed on a non-solid block without falling.

If a sand entity falls on a fence post, it does not turn into a solid block. Instead, it stays as an entity on top of that fence post.

Construction
Sand can be used in the construction of airlocks and mob suffocation traps. Being affected by gravity, it can be quickly and easily removed from ground level.

Farms
Sand and red sand can be used for farming cactus, sugar canes and bamboo.

Block data
In Bedrock Edition, sand uses the following data values:

Trivia

 * If a block of sand has snow on it and is made to fall, the snow is destroyed and will not drop snowballs.
 * Since falling sand is considered an entity, it can be launched in a TNT cannon, similar to an ignited piece of TNT.
 * Sand will fall at the same rate when submerged in water or lava, as it will when in air.
 * If a player is standing on a stack of sand or gravel, and the stack falls onto a non-solid block, the player will fall fast enough to take damage or even die.
 * Sand will fall 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 will actually be rotated if a block of sand turns into a FallingSand entity, similar to ignited TNT blocks. This is not the case with gravel.
 * Since  is considered an entity, blocks of sand without supports may disappear for a split second and a   entity is summoned. This is also the case when it's landing, but the entity (not the block) disappears instead before a block is placed.