why does ice cream melt faster in a glass/ceramic bowl compared to paper/plastic bowl?

Question

I noticed that ice cream melts faster in a glass or ceramic bowl than when I put it in a plastic bowl.

So I got curious and did a little testing. It seems that ice cream melts faster to slower in this order:

Stainless – Glass/Ceramic – paper – plastic.

I’m no scientist and this “test” was not strictly controlled so I might be wrong.

But is there a scientific reason why frozen dairy milk melts faster when it’s contacted to certain materials?

In: 3

Answer 1

It might seem backwards in this case, but the heat is flowing *into* the ice cream from the container. You’ve listed the materials in order of their ability to transfer that heat into the ice cream.