What temperature is the ice in Roblox? What a question. A simple question. This is the question that sparked my imagination, and I thought maybe like you right now that is a dumb question, an easy to answer question, one that would not be worth doing a blog post on. Little did I know that the path to answering this question was inspired by this video (and unlisted). I finally found the answer and the answer is surprising!

Before we get to the blog post, I would like to say that this analysis can be performed on any Roblox material, provided it corresponds with an actual material in real life.

For the Snowball, which was somehow recommended to me by Roblox, I got the script. Below is the script:

--Rescripted by Luckymaxer

Projectile = script.Parent

Players = game:GetService("Players")
Debris = game:GetService("Debris")

local Hitsounds = {"19326853", "19326880", "19326891"}
local flakes = {"19003948", "19003957", "19003971", "19003978", "19003982", "19003990", "19003998"}
local globs = {"19323823", "19323854"}

local HitSound = Instance.new("Sound")
HitSound.SoundId = "http://www.roblox.com/asset/?id=" .. Hitsounds[math.random(1,#Hitsounds)]
HitSound.Parent = Projectile
HitSound.Volume = 1

Creator = script:FindFirstChild("Creator")

function GetCreator()
	return (((Creator and Creator.Value and Creator:IsA("Player")) and Creator.Value) or nil)
end

function IsTeamMate(Player1, Player2)
	return (Player1 and Player2 and not Player1.Neutral and not Player2.Neutral and Player1.TeamColor == Player2.TeamColor)
end

function Snowface(player)
	
	if not player then
		return
	end
	local PlayerGui = player:FindFirstChild("PlayerGui")
	if not PlayerGui then
		return
	end
	
	local guiMain = Instance.new("ScreenGui") 
	guiMain.Parent = PlayerGui 
	local mainFrame = Instance.new("Frame") 
	mainFrame.Name = "SnowfaceEffect"
	mainFrame.Position = UDim2.new(0, 0, 0, 0) 
	mainFrame.Size = UDim2.new(1, 0, 1, 0) 
	mainFrame.BackgroundColor = BrickColor.new(1,1,1)
	mainFrame.Transparency = 1
	mainFrame.BorderColor = BrickColor.new(1,1,1)
	Debris:AddItem(guiMain, 10)
	mainFrame.Parent = guiMain

	--- big glob
	local s = Instance.new("ImageLabel")
	local size = (math.random() * .2) + .5
	s.Size = UDim2.new(size,0,size,0)
	s.Position = UDim2.new(math.random() - (size/2),0, math.random() - (size/2),0)
	s.SizeConstraint = Enum.SizeConstraint.RelativeXX
	s.Transparency = 1
	s.Image = "http://www.roblox.com/asset/?id=" .. globs[math.random(1, #globs)]
	Debris:AddItem(s, 5 + (math.random() * 2))
	s.Parent = mainFrame

	--flakes
	for i=1,20 do

		local s = Instance.new("ImageLabel")
		local size = (math.random() * .05) + .05
		s.Size = UDim2.new(size,0,size,0)
		s.Position = UDim2.new(math.random() - (size/2),0, math.random() - (size/2),0)
		s.SizeConstraint = Enum.SizeConstraint.RelativeXX
		s.Transparency = 1
		s.Image = "http://www.roblox.com/asset/?id=" .. flakes[math.random(1, #flakes)]
		Debris:AddItem(s, 3 + (math.random() * 6))
		s.Parent = mainFrame
	end
	
end

function Explode()
	local count = 5
	for i = 1, count do
		local p = Instance.new("Part")
		p.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("White")
		p.formFactor = 2
		p.Size = Vector3.new(1, 0.4, 1)
		p.Material = Enum.Material.Ice
		p.TopSurface = 0
		p.BottomSurface = 0
		p.Velocity = Projectile.Velocity * (4 + (math.random() * 2))
		p.RotVelocity = Vector3.new(math.random(-20, 20), math.random(-20, 20), math.random(-20, 20))
		p.CFrame = Projectile.CFrame + (Projectile.Velocity * math.random() * 0.05) + Vector3.new(0, math.random() * 3, 0)
		Debris:AddItem(p, 60)
		p.Parent = game:GetService("Workspace")
	end
end

AlreadyHit = false
function Touched(Hit)
	if not Hit or not Hit.Parent or AlreadyHit then
		return
	end
	local CreatorPlayer = GetCreator()
	local character = Hit.Parent
	local humanoid = character:FindFirstChild("Humanoid")
	if humanoid and humanoid.Health > 0 then
		local player = Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(character)
		if player then
			if (CreatorPlayer and player == Creator.Value) then
				return
			end
			Snowface(player)
		end
		AlreadyHit = true
	end
	HitSound:Play()
	Explode()
	Projectile:Destroy()
end

Projectile.Touched:connect(Touched)

wait(10)

Projectile:Destroy()

The description was not very helpful, so instead, I must decipher this script. Fortunately, Luau reads like a book, so this script basically creates five white 1x0.4x1 bricks that vaporize in 60 seconds. In order to find out how cold the Roblox ice, I need to find the temperature change. I can start with this formula, which calculates the heat transfer coefficient provided that we know the heat transferred, the heat transfer surface area, the temperature difference, and the time interval, namely ${\displaystyle h=Q\cdot(A\Delta T\Delta t)^{-1}}$ . We can use this to solve for the temperature change, which is ${\displaystyle \Delta T=\frac{Q}{Aht}}$. We will split the rest of the blog post into two headings: the heat transferred and the heat transfer surface area. We will assume that the heat transfer coefficient for ice in Roblox is the same for ice in Earth. Since the video I was inspired by used a heat transfer coefficient of 500 watts per square meter kelvin difference (the video later used 1000 watts per square meter kelvin difference), we can assume it is the same here. The time is 60 seconds, as seen in Line 89. We will assume no overlap between the bricks.

Heat Transferred:

For the heat transfer coefficient, we need to know how much heat energy is needed to vaporize ice. We will use a water heating calculator. First, we need to calculate the mass of ice. Ice is one of the materials in Roblox that we already know the density of: 0.919 grams per cubic centimeter. Since the ice bricks measure 1x0.4x1, we can conclude that the total amount of ice we need to vaporize has a volume of 2 cubic studs. For the Robloxians who prefer real life units, that is 43904 cubic centimeters of ice we need to melt. Finally, multiplying it by the density of ice gives us 40350 grams of ice.

Since we are finding the ice temperature in Roblox, we need to define a variable. Let ${\displaystyle I}$ be the temperature of ice in Roblox:

The question now becomes, "How much energy would we need to obtain water hot enough to vaporize those bricks of ice with an initial temperature of ${\displaystyle I}$°C (${\displaystyle I+273.15}$ K)?"

Fortunately, this problem can be broken into smaller steps.

The first question is to find the heat needed to raise the temperature of ice until 0°C. This can be done by using the formula: ${\displaystyle M\cdot\Delta T\cdot c=Q}$, where M is the mass, ${\displaystyle \Delta T}$ is the temperature change, and ${\displaystyle c}$ is the heat capacity of whatever we need raise the temperature of.

Plugging in the values of 40.35 kilograms, ${\displaystyle 0-I}$ degrees Celsius, and 2108 joules per kilogram Celsius gives us ${\displaystyle 85053111.808I}$ joules per Celsius.

The second question is to find the amount of heat required to convert it into water. This is relatively simple to calculate:

40.35 kg×334,000 J/kg=13,476,157.184 J

The third question is to find the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of water until 99.61°C. This is the boiling point of water, assuming that the atmospheric pressure in Roblox is 100 kilopascals. Again, we use the formula stated earlier.

Plugging in the values of 40.35 kilograms, 99.61 degrees Celsius, and 4190 joules per kilogram Celsius gives us 16,839,785.8432384 joules.

The fourth question is to find the amount of heat required to convert it into vapor. This is also relatively simple to calculate:

40.35 kg×2,264,705 J/kg=91,375,810.04608 J

Summing up all the answers to the questions gives us ${\displaystyle 1.216917530733184\cdot10^{8}+8.5053111808\cdot10^{7}I}$ joules needed to heat those bricks of water.

Next, we need to calculate the area.

Heat Transfer Surface Area.

Since all Roblox parts generated by the Instance.new function are by default, bricks (blocks, rectangular prisms, or cuboids), we can use the formula for the surface area of a cuboid to aid us: ${\displaystyle A=2\left(hw+d\left(h+w\right)\right)}$.

Since the formula is commutative over its three variables (exercise is left to the reader), it does not matter which is the height, the width, or the depth. In fact, we can just plug in the arguments passed on to p.Size. Doing so gives us that one brick has a surface area of approximately 3.6 square studs. Assuming no overlap, five bricks have a total surface area of approximately 18 square studs or in Earth units, 1.41 square meters.

Are you ready kids?

We are now ready to plug everything to the formula. Doing this gives us:

${\displaystyle \Delta T=\frac{1.216917530733184\cdot10^{8}+8.5053111808\cdot10^{7}I}{1.4112\cdot500\cdot60}}$.

That is just the temperature change part. If we add this to ${\displaystyle I}$, we get this as the final temperature:

${\displaystyle I+\frac{1.216917530733184\cdot10^{8}+8.5053111808\cdot10^{7}I}{1.4112\cdot500\cdot60}}$

Since the final temperature of Roblox ice is 99.61 degrees Centigrade (it is vaporized), we plug this into the final temperature to obtain the temperature of Roblox ice:

${\displaystyle I=-1.3805}$ degrees Celsius, or 29.515 degrees Fahrenheit.

And what is surprising, so surprising that Jenna will be even more anime surprised than she is now: even if we did the math using Roblox's old stud units (5 centimeters), the answer still remains roughly the same!

So yes, I am ready to present this TL:DR:

Roblox Ice is surprisingly realistic. I rest my case.