Ice cubes are small, roughly cube-shaped pieces of ice, conventionally used to cool beverages. Ice cubes are sometimes preferred over crushed ice because they melt more slowly; they are standard in mixed drinks that call for ice, in which case the drink is said to be "on the rocks."

Ice cubes that are crushed or sheared into irregularly-shaped flakes may add an interesting aesthetic effect to some cocktails. Crushed ice is also used when faster cooling is desired, since the rate of cooling is governed by the number and average radius of the ice particles.

Melting ice cubes sometimes precipitate white flakes, commonly known as "floaties". This is calcium carbonate which is present in many water supplies and is completely harmless.^{[citation needed]}

American physician and humanitarian John Gorrie built a refrigerator in 1844 with the purpose of cooling air. His refrigerator produced ice which he hung from the ceiling in a basin. Gorrie can be considered the creator of ice cubes, but his aim was not to cool drinks: he used the ice to lower the ambient room temperature. During his time, a dominant idea was that bad air quality caused disease. Therefore, in order to help treat sickness, he pushed for the draining of swamps and the cooling of sickrooms.

Steve Cotter is a martial artist and strength and conditioning instructor. He is the owner of FullKOntact Kettlebells and Full KOntact Fitness. Steve is also director and founder of the International Kettlebell & Fitness Federation, with certified instructors in every continent: www.ikff.com.

Steve Cotter began formal training in physical development when he was 12 years old with the Internal Chinese Martial Arts system called hsing-I ch’uan (xingyiquan). He trained full time throughout high school and into his mid twenties. Cotter fought for the USA Full Contact Kuoshu team in the World Championships in 1996 after winning a national tournament in 1995. The U.S. team finished third in the tournament, although Cotter did not contribute any points to the team total. In early 1997 Cotter began college full time and received his degree in Kinesiology.

Cotter lives in San Diego. He teaches seminars and instructor certification courses all throughout the world and has certified instructors in every continent. He is among the world's most sought after kettlebell and fitness instructors due to his very clear and concise teaching style, presenting at numerous fitness and health conventions in North America, Europe and Asia.