Many people ask why the Statue of Liberty is green in color. This is understandable since the Statue of made of copper. In its natural state, copper is the color of a bright, shiny penny.

But, copper when it interacts with the elements such as rain like the Statue of Liberty does becomes tarnished. It is this chemical weathering that the Statue is exposed to that turns it green (or blue-green some will tell you). The picture above compares what the Statue of Liberty may have looked like with its original copper color to what it looks like now.

Some say that the Statue of Liberty is green in color because of the sulfuric acid (debatable) in the rain that drenches the Great Lady on occasion. Corrosion brought on by exposure to moister and oxygen turns the copper into copper carbonate which is green in color.

Others say that acid rain (debatable) causes the copper to turn into copper oxide, copper sulfate, copper hydroxide or copper chloride because of the oxidation-reduction reaction and this is basically copper salts or in other words, tarnish.

So, in its original state the Statue of Liberty was a bright copper color like a penny. But, because of rain and natural weathering the Statue of Liberty has turned green. No matter what color She may be however, she is still the symbol for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.