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Home » Early Years Science » Preschool Science » New York – Why is the Statue of Liberty Green?

New York – Why is the Statue of Liberty Green?

Modified: Feb 23, 2024 · Published: Aug 15, 2022 by Emma Vanstone · This post may contain affiliate links · 9 Comments

Today’s post is part of my United States of Science series. The idea is you print a map of the USA and colour each state as you learn about it with a fun science activity.

Map of the USA, one version is coloured and one to be coloured in

New York

New York City in the state of New York is the most populated city in the whole of the United States, with a population of over 8.5 million people.

The Statue of Liberty is just one of the iconic landmarks in New York City. It’s made of copper, which has oxidised naturally to form a green patina coating which actually protects the copper underneath.

It took about 20 years for the Statue of Liberty to change from copper coloured to green!

Statue of Liberty

Why is the Statue of Liberty Green?

image of the Statue of Liberty


Some simple copper chemistry will help us to find out. Copper coins can be cleaned with vinegar and salt.

What you need to clean coins

Vinegar

Salt

Small bowl

Copper coins

A bowl of vinegar and copper coins ready for a science experiment

How to clean coins

1. Put about a teaspoon of salt into a bowl

2. Add about 50ml of vinegar and stir to dissolve the salt.

3. Leave the coins in the vinegar and salt solution for 5 minutes.

a coin half cleaned with vinegar
two copper coins soaking in a bowl of vinegar

5. Take them out and compare them to other dull copper coins!

You now have sparkling copper treasure!

Coins cleaned with vinegar compared with coins not cleaned with vinegar

Why does vinegar clean coins?

The reason copper coins don’t stay shiny is that the copper reacts with oxygen in the air to form copper oxide, which is a dull greenish-grey colour.

When you mix salt (sodium chloride) with vinegar (acetic acid), sodium acetate and hydrogen chloride form. Hydrogen chloride is an acid which works well at rapidly cleaning the surface of the copper coin, leaving it beautifully shiny and removing the oxide.

If the coin is exposed to the air again, it will quickly react with oxygen to form the dull greenish copper oxide layer.

The Statue of Liberty is coated in a thin layer of copper which has turned green due to reactions with air and water.

Now you know why the Statue of Liberty is green!

This activity would be great for a school science fair project.

If you enjoyed this activity, don’t forget I have lots more fun Chemistry science experiments for kids of all ages!

How else can you clean coins?

Anything acidic will clean coins, and if it’s acidic and salty, even better!

A fun way to extend this investigation is to try to clean copper coins with other substances. Ketchup, coke and lemon juice are all good things to try first!

Do not eat or drink anything you’ve used to clean coins.

New York Facts

The Statue of Liberty gets struck by lightning multiple times a year.

New York is nicknamed The Empire State.

The capital city of New York is Albany, not New York City!

New York is bordered by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Canada!

Niagara Falls borders New York and Canada.

Map showing New York state and the states bordering it.
New York – state of USA
Image of the Statue of Liberty for party o a chemistry project about cleaning coins and build up of copper oxide.

Last Updated on February 23, 2024 by Emma Vanstone

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Safety Notice

Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.

These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. MsXpat

    May 25, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    Ah, nice good test.

    Reply
  2. catherine @mummylion

    May 25, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    i didn’t know the statue of liberty was copper!

    Reply
    • Multiple Mummy

      May 26, 2012 at 5:24 pm

      Just covered in a thin layer!

      Reply
  3. Nicole

    May 26, 2012 at 11:06 pm

    What a wonderful hands on way to learn about the statue of liberty, I will be adding this to out United States projects for sure!! Thanks so much for sharing!! Have a wonderful weekend!

    Reply
    • ScienceSparks

      May 27, 2012 at 7:48 pm

      and you!

      Reply
  4. Jojo

    June 01, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    Is it chemical or physical change?

    Reply
    • Yashika Aswal

      February 20, 2019 at 12:09 am

      This would be a chemical change.

      Reply
  5. your chemistry teacher

    July 10, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    NaCl+ CH3CH2OH is not possible…:D

    Reply
  6. JoJo Siwa

    November 09, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    I was wondering why the statue of liberty turned green! Thanks for the cleaning tip!

    Reply

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