Question

Help me to do my report. Please

In the restoration of the Statue of Liberty for its centennial in 1986. What role did oxidation-reduction play in the need for restoration? And Discuss the core idea for the statue, conceived by the legal thinker Édouard René Lefebvre de Laboulaye.

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Answer 1

The statue of liberty was actually a shiny copper color when that was gifted to the US from France in 1885. Gradually the statue changed its color from shiny copper to a dull brown, and finally to its blue-green. This was as a result of reactions between copper and the air - when copper gave up electrons to oxygen. It is not a single reaction between copper and oxygen to produce a green oxide. The copper oxide continues to react to form copper carbonates (green color), copper sulfide (black), and copper sulfate (green). Initially, copper reacts with oxygen and donates electrons to oxygen, which oxidizes the copper and reduces the oxygen:

2Cu + O2 → Cu2O (pink or red)

Then the copper(I) oxide continues to react with oxygen to form copper oxide (CuO):

2Cu2O + O2 → 4CuO (black)

At the time the Statue of Liberty was built, the air contained a lot of sulfur from air pollution produced by burning coal:

Cu + S → 4CuS (black)

Then CuS reacts with carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and hydroxide ions from water vapor to form three compounds:

2CuO + CO2 + H2O → Cu2CO3(OH)2 (green)

3CuO + 2CO2 + H2O → Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 (blue)

4CuO + SO3 +3H2O → Cu4SO4(OH)6 (green)

The statue of liberty was actually a shiny copper color when that was gifted to the US from France in 1885. Gradually the statue changed its color from shiny copper to a dull brown, and finally to its blue-green. This was as a result of reactions between copper and the air - when copper gave up electrons to oxygen. It is not a single reaction between copper and oxygen to produce a green oxide. The copper oxide continues to react to form copper carbonates (green color), copper sulfide (black), and copper sulfate (green). Initially, copper reacts with oxygen and donates electrons to oxygen, which oxidizes the copper and reduces the oxygen:

2Cu + O2 → Cu2O (pink or red)

Then the copper(I) oxide continues to react with oxygen to form copper oxide (CuO):

2Cu2O + O2 → 4CuO (black)

At the time the Statue of Liberty was built, the air contained a lot of sulfur from air pollution produced by burning coal:

Cu + S → 4CuS (black)

Then CuS reacts with carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and hydroxide ions from water vapor to form three compounds:

2CuO + CO2 + H2O → Cu2CO3(OH)2 (green)

3CuO + 2CO2 + H2O → Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 (blue)

4CuO + SO3 +3H2O → Cu4SO4(OH)6 (green)

Edouard Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye was a French poet, author, jurist, and anti-slavery activist. In 1865 he originated the idea of a monument presented by the French people to the United States that resulted the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. He got the idea thinking that this would strengthen their relationship with the United States.