Why is Greenland bigger on a map than South America?

Answer 1

The world is round, but maps are done on flat surfaces. To compensate for this, countries further from the equator get stretched. Greenland appears to be as big as all of Africa on a map like that, where in fact it is only about the size of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Alaska looks about half the size of the lower 48 states, but in reality it is much smaller. Watch for the lines of latitude and longitude to give a better idea of how big countries are in relation to each other.

Answer 2

The Mercator projection stretches and distorts landmasses that are far from the equator. This is due to the 'flattened' style of the map. The farther from the equator, the more pronounced the effect.

Answer 3

Because Greenland is closer to the pole. When a map is drawn unless it is drawn on a globe the size of country's become distorted as you move upwards and downwards from the equator. Imagine drawing the map of the world on a ball made fro rubber then putting a slice in it from the north pole to the south pole, then stretching it until it becomes a flat rectangle. It would make the north and south poles which are only an imaginary point just as long as the equator.

Answer 4

Maps are a 2-dimensional representation of a 3-dimensional object. In flattening, some scales are lost. The shape can be distorted to show more accurate distance, or the distance can be distorted to show more accurate shape.

The best way to find both accurate distance and shape is by using a good quality globe. Globes are 3-dimensional objects, just scaled down, and provide the best representation of the world.

Answer 5

cus your momma is soo fat that when she went passed the window i missed 3 days of light! XD

Answer 6

on a mercator projection,greenland appears larger than south america becouse

Answer 7

realy south america is much bigger

but on a flat world map, the polar regions are stretched so greenland will look bigger

infact, its like the size of africa