Why do ice cubes break when introduced into a relatively warm drink?

Question

Why do ice cubes break when introduced into a relatively warm drink?

Answer 1

  The surface contracts when it thaws causing the cracking sound.

Answer 2

because of the temperature..anyone knows that when your skin interact with a hot object your skin will burn..and also when an ice cube is place in a water(whether it is hot or cold) it breaks/melts easily..ice melts/breaks easily when placed in water than in air or just by sitting it in a room temperature...

Answer 3

I'd say id was because the ice is trying to shrink faster than it can melt, exerting pressure on the solid...which breaks along fault lines made during freezing.

Answer 4

Because they're shrinking, the temperature warmer than them melts it, lessening it's density, therefore breaking! Somethin like that anyway :)

Answer 5

Thats a bit obvious, don't you think?

Answer 6

As we know, ice occupies more volume than the same amount of unfrozen water. (That's why it floats; it's less dense.) The expansion actually occurs while cooling through a range of temperatures just below freezing.

I believe the breakage is because the ice surface is warmed quickly, and therefore shrinks while staying frozen. The outer part of the ice cube no longer "fits" around the middle, and the stress causes it to break.