Ice

Ice is a semi-transparent solid block formed on snow worlds from exposed water, it was added in Version 1.0.4 alongside snow, and is slightly slippery. Any block of water exposed to snow will eventually freeze into ice. All sides of an ice block use the same texture.

Ice can be easily destroyed without tools, but using a pickaxe greatly helps. If there is another block directly underneath the block, it will revert back to water when broken, otherwise it will shatter into nothing in much the same way as glass.

Ice will melt into water when adjacent to level 12 light from any block that gives off light (sunlight does not melt ice). Torches cannot be placed on ice directly.

Due to a missing feature since the Halloween Update, water may no longer freeze into ice because it does not snow any more. Ice still naturally forms in certain biomes.

Trivia

 * If a player rides a pig on ice using a saddle, the pig moves incredibly fast, making journeys across long frozen lakes easier.
 * Although it is seemingly transparent, water cannot be seen through ice.
 * If an ice block is hacked into one's inventory and broken in the Nether, the water will not evaporate. This is useful for creating obsidian farms.

Eis