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November 30, 2012
Q. What's been the greatest peril facing the Statue of Liberty since its unveiling in 1888?
A. Probably not sabotage, though a 1916 explosion set off by German agents to damage a nearby munitions dump did damage the raised arm, says Yale University materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez, as reported by Kate Greene in Discover magazine. The 156-ton Lady Liberty, designed by French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, is “a remarkable metallurgical success story.” Its outer surface is made of copper sheeting barely a tenth of an inch thick (like two pennies pressed together) and supported by a wrought-iron skeleton designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame. The copper “skin” is joined to the iron skeleton with copper braces pliable enough to endure cycles of thermal expansion and contraction. The structure's “combination of materials has allowed it to withstand more than 125 years of the harshest of environments: hot summers, cold winters, the salt spray of the surrounding sea,” explains Ramirez.
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