system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Would rubbing 2 ice cubes together in a sub-zero temperature environment cause enough friction to melt the ice cubes?

I realize that the ice cubes would be less likely to melt the colder the environment became, so as a setting: rubbing the ice cubes together with your hands in -5°C (but other scenarios and all that are welcome!). A question that came to mind since winter and icy conditions have set in (at least where I am...) :(.

I would also add: since water seems to lower the coefficient of friction on ice, would the thin layer of water created on the ice cubes from the friction in turn lower friction to a point that the ice cube would no longer melt?
gpt
Ice cubes melt because they absorb enough energy to break the inter molecular forces that make them solid.  Cold environments make water freeze because heat flows from higher energy areas (warmer, the water) to lower energy areas (colder, the environment) in an attempt to become equal (2nd law of thermodynamics).  Rubbing the ice cubes together, putting your hands on them, or increasing the pressure on them will all cause them to absorb energy, or melt.  It's really a battle of how fast you can melt the cubes to how fast the environment absorbs their energy.