How to make and use glow sticks in Minecraft Education Edition (2022)

Minecraft is best known for its two main versions. First is Java Edition, which is the original version of the game, known for its large multiplayer community and the large number of free mods that have been released over the years.

Then there is the Bedrock Edition, paid for by Microsoft in a different coding language, made to streamline the game, and offers cross-platform multiplayer for PC, mobile, and the many different consoles the game is on.

However, there is a third, lesser-known version. This is the Education Edition, which features some interesting crafting based around elements and compounds and interesting items, including the glow stick.

---

All about glow sticks in Minecraft Education Edition

How to make glow sticks

The crafting recipe for glow sticks (Image via Minecraft)

The first thing to note is that it is impossible to make glow sticks in any survival versions of the game, education or not. Additionally, players cannot even use the /give console command to give themselves glowsticks. They must be manually crafted using items gathered in creative mode.

Now that the proper foreword has been given, the discussion of how to make a glow stick in Education Edition can continue. The thing players will need most to create a glow stick is polyethylene. Players will need six of this compound. This compound can be created by using ten carbon and 20 hydrogen at a compound creator.

These elements, along with all of the others needed to create the other compounds found within the recipe for glow sticks, can also be created by using the element constructor.

There are two other compounds that players need to make a glow stick. Players will only need one of each of these compounds. The first is hydrogen peroxide, which is created using two hydrogen and two oxygen. The other compound is luminol, which players can create by combining eight carbon, seven hydrogen, three nitrogen, and two oxygen.

Once players have all of these different compounds, players will need to enter the traditional crafting table crafting grid. Players should fill the left and right columns with polyethylene, place the hydrogen peroxide on the top of the middle column, the luminol on the bottom of the middle column, and any color of dye in the middle of the grid.

---

The use of glow sticks

A glow stick with its durability meter (Image via Minecraft)

Glow sticks within Minecraft Education Edition function similarly to how they do in real life. Players holding a glowstick in their hand can crack the glowstick. There is no animation for this. The glowstick simply moves up and down a few times very slightly before a durability bar appears under the glow stick.

Once the durability bar appears underneath the glow stick, the item’s lifespan is limited. The item will slowly lose durability over time, illuminating the area around the player as the player carries the item around. This makes the glow stick the only light source item with limited durability, even if it is exclusive to the Education Edition of the game.

---

Glow Stick Trivia

The crafting recipe for luminol, the main reactive compound in the glow stick (Image via Minecraft)

Although glow sticks in Minecraft have limited durability, players cannot enchant them with unbreaking or mending enchantments. This makes them the only item with durability that is unable to benefit from these enchantments.

Interestingly, black and light gray glow sticks use the same texture as the red glow stick, without any color saturation that would result in the red coloration.

The luminol reaction in the game quite accurately portrays how glow sticks behave and exist in the real world. Forensic specialists often use it to detect genetic material at crime scenes.