How to Detonate TNT in Minecraft

Manufacturing TNT explosives

Search for 5 pieces of gunpowder. You will need 5 pieces of gunpowder to craft one piece of TNT. Gunpowder cannot be crafted, but must be found by defeating certain enemies that have a chance of dropping gunpowder, or by searching certain chests that have a chance of containing gunpowder:

Defeat Creeper (before explosion): 66% (drops 1 or 2 gunpowder)

Defeat ghosts: 66% (drops 1 or 2 gunpowder)

Defeat the witch: 16% (drops 1 to 6 gunpowder)

Open chest in desert temple: 59% (contains 1 to 8 gunpowder)

Open a chest in a dungeon: 58% (contains 1 to 8 gunpowder)

Take 4 sand blocks. You can use regular sand or red sand. Both types of sand are similar and can be mixed during the process of making TNT. Typically, you can find sand in the following biomes and areas:

beach

desert

Riverbank

Red sand (mesa)

Open the crafting window. Use the crafting table to open the crafting window.

Place gunpowder in an "X" shape. Place gunpowder in each corner box, then place the remaining piece of gunpowder in the middle box.

Fill the remaining squares with sand (or red sand, or a combination of the two). Place the sand blocks in the remaining four spaces in the frame. This is the step that creates TNT.

Add TNT to inventory. Pull TNT from the finished frame and add it to your inventory. Now you can place TNT in the world to detonate.

Detonation by fire

Use flint and steel to ignite the TNT block. This is the simplest way to detonate TNT. You can learn how to make a fire starter yourself. Take the ignition tool and go to TNT to start the ignition. The TNT block will begin to glow when ignited.

Make sure you back away to a safe enough distance before the TNT explodes (4 seconds after being ignited).

TNT has an explosion radius of about 7 blocks.

Use the flaming arrow to ignite the TNT. If you want to be a little safer when detonating TNT, you can use a flaming arrow to ignite it.

You can enchant arrows with fire to make them burn using the enchantment table. Learn how to craft an enchantment table and use lapis lazuli to enchant items.

You can also ignite arrows by shooting them through fire or lava. Thus, you can create fire in front of the TNT block and shoot an arrow through it to ignite the arrow and detonate the TNT.

Use fire charge to ignite the TNT. You can make fireballs by placing charcoal in the middle of the crafting frame, blaze powder on the left and gunpowder below. Fireballs are not as effective as fire starters, as you will lose the fireball when thrown.

Throw fireballs at the TNT to ignite. You can throw fireballs by selecting it in your inventory, then using the item.

When placing a fireball in a dispenser, it will be shot as a fireball when activated. This isn't very useful against TNT because the fireballs are fired at random angles.

Detonate the TNT with another TNT explosion. Any TNT within the explosion radius of another TNT will be ignited and detonated. Unlike TNT that you actively ignite, which always explodes after 4 seconds, TNT that is detonated by an explosion will explode after 0.5 to 1.5 seconds.

Since the explosion doesn't have an exact radius, make sure your TNT is inside the explosion, no further than 3 or four blocks from the first exploding TNT.

Pour lava or start a fire near TNT. If lava flows near TNT, the TNT will be detonated as soon as it ignites. This can happen even if the lava does not flow directly into TNT. The same thing happened when the area around TNT caught fire.

Detonate with redstone circuit

Collect redstone powder. Redstone dust is used to create redstone circuits and transmit electricity. For the basic circuit, you will likely need to make an explosive wire up to 15 blocks of redstone powder long. If the wire is longer, more redstone will be needed.

You can only find redstone ore in layers from 0 to 15, in which layers 4 to 13 have the most redstone ore. You will need to dig down into the bedrock layer and begin your hunt for redstone veins. You need an iron or diamond pickaxe to mine redstone ore.

A block of redstone ore can be crafted into 9 piles of redstone powder. You will usually earn 4 or 5 redstone powder every time you mine redstone ore.

You can find redstone powder in chests in dungeons and strongholds. Witches can drop redstone powder when defeated. Jungle temple has a trap containing 15 redstone powder. In the secret room there may be more.

Create a switch mechanism. There are various mechanisms you can use to detonate redstone circuits:

Button - This item is placed next to a complete block and provides redstone energy when pressed. You can craft a stone button by placing a stone block in the slot in the middle of the crafting frame. You can make wooden buttons by placing as many wooden planks as possible in the middle box.

Lever - The lever is placed on any hard surface and can turn redstone power on or off. You can craft a lever by placing a stick in the middle of the crafting frame and a cobblestone block below.

Pressure plate - This is a button that is automatically pressed when you stand in. The main difference between the pressure sensor disc and the above two is that monsters can activate the pressure sensor disc, so this item is very suitable as a trap. You can make a pressure sensor disc by placing a block of stone or wood in the center of the frame and a similar block to the left.

Create the basic circuit. Now that you have the redstone powder and the switch mechanism, you can create the basic circuit:

Apply the switch mechanism somewhere you can use it. This will be a remote detonation mechanism, so make sure you can see the explosion.

Place the redstone powder into a wire leading to where you want to place the TNT. The first piece of dough should be near the switch mechanism. You can place redstone powder by looking at a block and right-clicking when equipping it. Redstone ores can connect to a floor above or below, and the full length must be 15 blocks or less.

Place TNT at the end of the redstone conductor. This is where the circuit ends and will activate the TNT block. Make sure the TNT block is on the same level as the end of the wire, and right next to the last block of redstone powder.

Activate the circuit. Now after placing the TNT, you can activate the circuit using the mechanism. After activating the redstone circuit, the TNT will immediately be set to explode. After 4 seconds, TNT will explode.

Try creating a more complex circuit. If you use redstone torches, you can create advanced logic doors that remotely detonate multiple TNTs every given period of time. You can learn for yourself how to make and use redstone lamps, an integral part of the larger redstone circuit.

Marvin Fry

Update 05 November 2023