Sponge

Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0.6
Hardness	0.6
Luminant	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No

A sponge is a block that can be used to remove water around itself when placed, turning into a wet sponge in the process.

Obtaining[edit]

Either type of sponge can be mined by hand, or with any tool, dropping itself as an item; however, hoes break sponges the fastest compared to other tools.

Block	Sponge Wet Sponge
Hardness	0.6
Tool
Breaking time^[A]
Default	0.9
Wooden	0.45
Stone	0.25
Iron	0.15
Diamond	0.15
Netherite	0.1
Golden	0.1

↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Elder guardians[edit]

An elder guardian always drops one wet sponge when killed by the player.

Natural generation[edit]

Ocean monuments can generate "sponge rooms." Each room contains an average of 30 wet sponges. See Ocean Monument/Structure for details.

Smelting[edit]

A wet sponge can be dried in a furnace, making the sponge reusable.

Ingredients	Smelting recipe	Description
Wet sponge + any fuel	0.15	If a bucket is in the fuel slot at the time the sponge completes its drying, the water drains into the bucket, leaving a bucket of water in the fuel slot. Otherwise, the water just evaporates.

Drying[edit]

A wet sponge placed in the Nether dries out instantly with a puff of steam and turns into a normal sponge.

A wet sponge placed in any dry biome in the Overworld dries out after a few minutes and turns into a normal sponge.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

If a normal sponge comes into contact with water in a dry biome, it absorbs the water and immediately dries out with a puff of steam.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Usage[edit]

A sponge absorbing water in a pond.

A sponge can be used to turn water into air by "absorbing" the water. A sponge instantly absorbs nearby water when it is placed next to water or when water comes into contact with it. Sponges immediately turn wet upon absorption and do not absorb any more water afterwards. Wet sponges emit small water particles on their surface, similar to crying obsidian or how some blocks drip when water or lava is above them. Sponges in item form do not absorb water or become wet.

A sponge absorbs both flowing and source blocks of water up to 7 blocks away (taken as a Manhattan distance) in all six directions around itself. Instead of a cube or a sphere, this effectively encloses the volume of an octahedron with vertices placed 7 units away from the center in each direction. A sponge does not absorb more than 65 blocks of water however, and water closest to the sponge is absorbed first. The absorption propagates only between adjacent water blocks and does not "jump over" non-water blocks, including air.

Sounds[edit]

Java Edition:

Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Block broken	Blocks	Breaking the block	`block.grass.break`	`subtitles.block.generic.break`	1.0	0.8	16
None^{[sound 1]}	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	`block.grass.fall`	None^{[sound 1]}	0.5	0.75	16
Block breaking	Blocks	Mining the block	`block.grass.hit`	`subtitles.block.generic.hit`	0.25	0.5	16
Block placed	Blocks	Placing the block	`block.grass.place`	`subtitles.block.generic.place`	1.0	0.8	16
Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	`block.grass.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Volume	Pitch
?	Blocks	Breaking the block	`dig.grass`	0.7	0.8
?	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	`fall.grass`	0.4	1.0
?	Blocks	Mining the block	`hit.grass`	0.3	0.5
?	Blocks	Jumping from the block	`jump.grass`	0.11	1.0
?	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	`land.grass`	0.21	1.0
?	Blocks	Walking on the block	`step.grass`	0.3	1.0
?	Blocks	Placing the block	`use.grass`	0.8	0.8

Data values[edit]

ID[edit]

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Translation key
Sponge	`sponge`	`block.minecraft.sponge`
Wet Sponge	`wet_sponge`	`block.minecraft.wet_sponge`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Translation key
Sponge	`sponge`	`19`	`tile.sponge.dry.name` `tile.sponge.wet.name`

Block data[edit]

In Bedrock Edition, sponges use the following data values:

	DV	Description
	0	Sponge
	1	Wet Sponge

Block states[edit]

In Bedrock Edition, sponges use the following block states:

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
sponge_type	`dry`	`dry`	Sponge
sponge_type	`dry`	`wet`	Wet Sponge

Achievements[edit]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
		Dry Spell	Dry a sponge in a furnace	—	15G	Bronze

Video[edit]

History[edit]

Java Edition Classic
May 24, 2009					Sponge was suggested on the TIGSource forums. Notch later approved this suggestion.
June 16, 2009					Sponges were tested by Notch.
0.0.19a					Added sponges.
					The sponge is a temporary fix to stop water from flooding until finite water is implemented.^[1]
					Sponges soak up water in a 5×5×5 volume around it, and would decay.
0.0.19a_02					Sponges no longer decay.
Java Edition Infdev
Minecraft Infdev		20100227-1			Due to Notch reworking many parts of the game to allow for infinite terrain generation the whole liquid system from Indev including sponges becomes non-functional. A new system for liquids was added in a later version of Infdev, sponges weren't touched though as they were no longer required.
Java Edition Beta
1.8		Pre-release			Sponges have now become available in creative mode.
Java Edition
1.2.1		12w07a			Prior to this version, sponges could be used in redstone builds for updating blocks, in conjunction with BUDs (block update detectors): if a sponge was placed and then removed, all blocks within a 7×7×7 range would be updated.^[2] The cause of this was some remaining code for the sponge's water removing property.
1.8		June 8, 2014			Jeb tweeted that the ability to erase water blocks would be returned to the sponge. The linked video revealed that the sponge would becomes wet once it absorbs water.
		14w25a			Added wet sponges. Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
					The textures of sponge has been changed.
					Sponges have now become obtainable in survival mode.
		14w25b			A wet sponge, when smelted, fills an empty bucket in the fuel slot with water.
1.9		15w43a			Elder guardians now drop dry sponges instead of wet ones.
1.11		16w33a			Elder guardians now drop wet sponges on player kills, rather than dry sponges.^[3]
1.13		17w47a			The two different `wet` block state values for the `sponge` ID have been split up into their own IDs.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 19.
1.14		18w43a			The textures of sponges have been changed.
1.15		19w36a			Sponges now dry out when placed in the Nether.
1.16		20w12a			Sponges and wet sponges can now be broken faster using hoes.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.8.0		build 2			Added sponges
v0.8.0		build 2			Sponges are currently available only in creative mode.
v0.16.0		build 1			Added wet sponges. Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
					The textures of sponge has been changed.
					Sponges have now become obtainable in survival mode.
					A wet sponge, when smelted, fills an empty bucket in the fuel slot with water.
Bedrock Edition
1.4.0		beta 1.2.13.8			Added drowned, which rarely drop sponges.
1.4.0		beta 1.2.20.1			Drowned no longer drop sponge.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Sponges now immediately dry out when placed in the Nether.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The textures of sponges have been changed.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.57			Sponges and wet sponges can now be broken faster using hoes.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added sponges.
TU5	CU1	1.0			Sponges are currently available only in creative mode.
TU28	CU16	1.19			Added wet sponges.
TU28	CU16	1.19			The texture of sponge has been changed.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Sponges are now obtainable in survival mode.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90					The textures of sponges have been changed.
1.90					Sponges now dry out when placed in the Nether and warm biomes after some time.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added sponges.
1.3.12					Added wet sponges.
					The texture of sponges has been changed.
					Sponges have now become obtainable in survival mode.
					Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
					A wet sponge, when smelted, fills an empty bucket in the fuel slot with water.