Tutorial:Igniting TNT underwater

This article explains on how to explode TNT underwater outside of the Minecraft Education edition. This technique can be useful for destroying ocean monuments.

Materials needed

Invicon Water Bucket.png: Inventory sprite for Water Bucket in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Water Bucket with description: Water BucketInvicon White Concrete Powder.png: Inventory sprite for White Concrete Powder in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to White Concrete Powder with description: White Concrete PowderInvicon Sand.png: Inventory sprite for Sand in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Sand with description: SandInvicon Gravel.png: Inventory sprite for Gravel in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Gravel with description: GravelInvicon Flint and Steel.png: Inventory sprite for Flint and Steel in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Flint and Steel with description: Flint and SteelInvicon TNT.png: Inventory sprite for TNT in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to TNT with description: TNT
Materials needed to make TNT explode underwater.

Steps

  1. Find any body of water. It could be a lake, river, or in the middle of an ocean.
  2. Place the TNT block, with a block of sand or gravel on top.
  3. Ignite the TNT with your flint and steel, making sure to stay back to avoid dying to the explosion.

Explanation

The reason that this works is that the TNT does not actually explode inside water, but inside the sand/gravel block. When the TNT is ignited, it becomes an entity, meaning another block such as sand or gravel can fall in and occupy its space. Normally when a TNT explodes underwater, the high blast resistance of water shields adjacent blocks from explosion, But when it explodes inside sand or gravel which has a low blast resistance, the explosion is no longer shielded and can destroy adjacent blocks. This phenomenon was reported as a bug (MC-67361) to the official Mojang bug tracker, but was resolved as "Works As Intended", meaning it is an intended game mechanic that doesn't exploit any glitches.

A more expensive but simpler method
Sideways view

Surround the TNT by blocks with low blast resistance, or dig a one-block hole in the ground and place the TNT inside, so that no sides of the block, except the top side, touch water. Then cover the top of the TNT with a redstone block to activate it. A redstone block has to be used because it is the only source of a redstone signal to function underwater.

Gallery

  • The first design, using sand.
    The first design, using sand.
  • The second similar design, using gravel instead.
    The second similar design, using gravel instead.
  • Another similar design, but using concrete powder.
    Another similar design, but using concrete powder.
  • Activating the TNT in the first design.
    Activating the TNT in the first design.

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