Does ice melt faster in air or water?

Answer 1

Been answered already.

For the same temperaure, the ice will melt faster in the medium that extracts most heat from it.

Now, compare the heat conductivity of water and air - you've got your answer!
Water, because the heat is carried away up to 4x faster because water molecules are more tighly packed than air. === === There are many variables to this question. What is the temperature of the water? What is the temp of the air? Is either one moving or flowing? Is the air below freezing? An ice cube melts because the ambient layer of air or water around it is changed rapidly. Styrofoam cups and coolers are designed to slow this down. If you take ice that has a fan blowing on it, it will melt faster because the air removes this layer surrounding it and replaces it with a warmer layer.
well, technically ice is water, so if the water is liquid, it would melt faster there, however if the air is warm that will melt it quickly too.

AnswerThe ice cube in cup that is by itself will melt slower. Ice water will have less kinetic energy, so ice cube in ice water will melt faster. Compared to the cup, the temperature surrounding the cup is much higher than ice water and so kinetic energy will be higher. Thus, causing the ice to melt faster in cup.

Thie answer bears on the temperature in the ambient air. If it is -50 C in the room the ice in the cup will not melt. It will, however, evaporate eventually. I guess the ice cube in the ice water would freeze, too, so in that case it's moot. Hmmm
Water will have more contact with the ice cube and absorbs heat better and hence, will be able to transport or transfer its heat to the cooler ice cube quicker. Initially, both air and water contact surfaces are equal in size. However, just as soon as melting of ice begins, the meltwater " skin " produced reduces the contact surface area of the surrounding warmer air, insulating slightly and absorbing some of the heat itself. As the meltwater flows down and off the ice cube, it is carrying some of that absorbed heat away from the ice, slowing down the overall melting process in air. Interestingly, ice cubes floating in water, will have both air and water contact surfaces. If you could study a side view of the melting ice cube, you would see that the portion below the water surface melts faster ( becomes smaller in size). To compensate for this loss of below-surface mass of the ice cube, it sinks slightly. It appears the air is winning the race but this is not true. The faster heat transfer of the water medium is actually pulling the cube down. This would be clearly demonstrated if you set the cube up (with an onion bag supporting net ) such that it was supported from dropping down lower and lower into the water as it melted. Then you would see the below surface portion virtually disappear. As this happens the top-heavy portion will want to turn turtle to compensate for the disappearing bottom half of the cube.
it melts faster in water because I tried it before the person who said that should put more notes down....

Answer 2

It is faster in water due to its high heat capacity.

Answer 3

No...!