How can people have fires inside igloos without them melting through the ice?

Question

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In: Chemistry

Answer 1

What happens is the rough inside later of the igloo melts a little bit at first but the super cold ice behind it which is being kept cold by the outside temperatures freezes it again in to a smooth crust. Because there’s now less surface area the warm inside air is less effective at melting the surrounding ice.

So basically it’s a constant battle between the fire inside warming up the air and the ice and cold air keeping the structure frozen, and the achieve a balance at some point.