Sand

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

Red sand is a variation of sand found exclusively in the badlands.

Breaking
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, 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. 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 desert village houses.

Red sand generates naturally in badlands biomes and variants, always in a one-block-deep layer. Unlike sand, there is no red sandstone that supports it below.

Both types of 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).

Trading
Wandering traders sell 8 sand or 4 red sand for one emerald.‌

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, slab, rail, or redstone dust) 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, 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.

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

Hatching
A turtle egg can hatch only if it's on sand or red sand.

Note Blocks
Sand and red sand can be placed under note blocks to produce "snare drum" sound.

ID




Block states
$$, sand uses the following block states:

Trivia

 * If a block of sand has snow on it and is made to fall, the snow is destroyed and does 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 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  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.
 * There used to be a glitch where sand or gravel placed on top of a 2-block-high plant floated in the air until it recieved a block update.