What is the compound creator in Minecraft: Education Edition?

An exclusive block to Minecraft: Education Edition (and Bedrock Edition when Education Edition's features are enabled), the compound creator takes the elements found and formed from a Minecraft world and combines them into compounds, some of which are used in crafting recipes.

As part of Minecraft: Education Edition's chemistry feature, elements are found throughout the game world. They can be created thanks to blocks such as the element constructor, which manipulates an element's atomic model, and the material reducer, which breaks down Minecraft blocks into their core elements.

This provides resources for the compound creator and teaches players and students about how elements make up our world.

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Minecraft: Using the compound creator

Many compounds and even a few standard Minecraft items can be made thanks to the compound creator (Image via Mojang)

When Minecraft players open the compound creator block, they'll be met with their inventory and Hotbar and the block's UI resembling a 3x3 grid. Players can place any elements they find inside the compound creator's slots. Depending on what elements are placed in the slots, different compounds can be created.

These compounds require multiple elements in different quantities, usually to match the compound's chemical formula. For example, water (H2O) requires two Hydrogen elements and one Oxygen element, crude oil (C5H5NO2) requires five Carbon, five Hydrogen, one Nitrogen, and two Oxygen elements, and so forth.

Fortunately, all recipes in the compound creator are formless, meaning the placement of elements doesn't matter as long as the appropriate amount is used. Below Minecraft players can find the compounds creatable using the block:

Compounds

• Aluminum Oxide
• Ammonia
• Barium Sulfate
• Benzene
• Boron Trioxide
• Calcium Bromide
• Crude Oil
• Glue
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Iron Sulfide
• Latex
• Lithium Hydride
• Luminol
• Lye
• Magnesium Nitrate
• Magnesium Oxide
• Polyethylene
• Potassium Iodide
• Soap
• Sodium Acetate
• Sodium Fluoride
• Sodium Hydride
• Sodium Hypochlorite
• Sodium Oxide
• Sulfate

Chemistry is only one exclusive feature afforded by Education Edition (Image via Mojang)

Chlorides

• Salt
• Calcium Chloride
• Cerium Chloride
• Mercuric Chloride
• Potassium Chloride
• Tungsten Chloride

Natural Minecraft Compounds

• Charcoal
• Ink Sac
• Sugar
• Water

Although many of these compounds have uses in Minecraft: Education Edition, many currently are creatable just for the sake of experimentation. This assists instructors in showing their students that nearly everything in the natural world is created from elements, chemicals, and compounds.

Demonstrating this through the interactive medium of Minecraft is a great tool, especially for hands-on and visual learners that stand to benefit from direct experimentation with these virtual chemicals and compounds.