Why every flat map stretches something
Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
a globe, a Mercator world map, an equal-area world map, and a satellite photo of one side of Earth. Ari's class wants one model that shows every country's true shape and true size at the same time. Which should they use?
- A Mercator world map
- A globe
- An equal-area world map
- A satellite photo of one side of Earth
A globe beside a flat world map, with arrows from the globe to the map. Bo asks why every flat world map stretches or squeezes something. Which answer is right?
- A curved surface cannot lie flat without stretching
- Oceans are shrunk to make room for land
- Mapmakers draw some flat maps carelessly
- Countries change size as borders move
Esme peels an orange in one piece and presses the peel flat on a table. What happens to the peel?
- It turns into a perfect rectangle
- It lies smooth with no gaps if peeled carefully
- It splits or stretches, like a world map
- It shrinks to half its size
Data: Wikidata and Wikipedia, read Nov 11, 2026, rounded. Beside it, a Mercator map with Greenland drawn larger than Brazil. On a globe, Brazil is about 4 times as big as Greenland. On Jun's Mercator map, Greenland looks bigger than Brazil. What did the map change?
- Greenland's latitude
- Greenland's distance from the equator
- Greenland's shape
- Greenland's size
Read this first
Use the table
Place Real area (million km²) Greenland 2.2 DR Congo 2.3 Data: Wikidata and Wikipedia, read Nov 11, 2026, rounded. Beside it, a Mercator map with Greenland drawn far larger than DR Congo.
DR Congo and Greenland are about the same size. On Luz's Mercator map, Greenland looks many times bigger. What did the map change?
- Greenland's real area
- Greenland's place on the globe
- Greenland's size on the map
- Greenland's shape on the map
Use the table
Place Real area (million km²) Greenland 2.2 DR Congo 2.3 Data: Wikidata and Wikipedia, read Nov 11, 2026, rounded.
On Milo's Mercator map, Greenland looks much bigger than DR Congo. Using the table, which is bigger in real life?
- They are exactly equal
- Greenland, by a lot
- It depends on the map
- DR Congo, a little
On Noah's Mercator map, Greenland looks bigger than India. Using the table, which is bigger in real life?
- They are exactly equal
- India
- Greenland
- It depends on the map
Data: Wikidata and Wikipedia, read Nov 11, 2026, rounded. Beside it, a Mercator map where Greenland looks bigger than India. Pia lists four places by real area. Which one is the smallest in real life?
- Greenland
- India
- Brazil
- DR Congo
Ren's sailing club draws a course that keeps one compass direction the whole way. Which map shows that course as a straight line?
- A Mercator map
- An equal-area map
- A globe
- A city street map
Zee needs to see true shapes, true sizes and true directions all together. Which should Zee use?
- A globe
- A city street map
- A Mercator map
- An equal-area map