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.

• 1 👁 Image
  gravel, 👁 Image
  sand, or 👁 Image
  concrete powder
• 1 👁 Image
  TNT
• 1 👁 Image
  Flint and Steel

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.

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.

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.

• 👁 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.