Background: The Mercator projection is best within 15 degrees north or south of the equator. Landmasses or countries outside that zone get stretched out of shape. The further the feature is from the equator, the more out of shape it is stretched. For example, if you look at Greenland on a globe, you see it is a relatively small country near the North Pole. Yet, on a Mercator projection, Greenland looks almost as big the United States. Because Greenland is closer to the pole, the continent's shape and size are greatly increased. The United States is closer to its true dimensions.

Situation: Stef is a young girl interested in the geography of the world. For her birthday, she got two different representations of the Earth. Her grandparents gave her a map that uses the Mercator projection and her uncle gave her a globe. She is comparing how certain countries look differently on the two gifts and trying to figure out why that is. She is specifically looking at Norway, a country near the North Pole, and Mexico, a country close to the equator.

Question: Which country will be more misshapen on the map?
Answer: Norway

Situation: Stef is a young girl interested in the geography of the world. For her birthday, she got two different representations of the Earth. Her grandparents gave her a map that uses the Mercator projection and her uncle gave her a globe. She is comparing how certain countries look differently on the two gifts and trying to figure out why that is. She is specifically looking at Norway, a country near the North Pole, and Mexico, a country close to the equator.

Question: Which country will be less misshapen on the map?
Answer: Mexico

Situation: Stef is a young girl interested in the geography of the world. For her birthday, she got two different representations of the Earth. Her grandparents gave her a map that uses the Mercator projection and her uncle gave her a globe. She is comparing how certain countries look differently on the two gifts and trying to figure out why that is. She is specifically looking at Norway, a country near the North Pole, and Mexico, a country close to the equator.

Question: Will Norway be more accurately represented on the globe or the map?
Answer: globe

Situation: Stef is a young girl interested in the geography of the world. For her birthday, she got two different representations of the Earth. Her grandparents gave her a map that uses the Mercator projection and her uncle gave her a globe. She is comparing how certain countries look differently on the two gifts and trying to figure out why that is. She is specifically looking at Norway, a country near the North Pole, and Mexico, a country close to the equator.

Question: Will Norway be less accurately represented on the globe or the map?
Answer: map

Situation: Stef is a young girl interested in the geography of the world. For her birthday, she got two different representations of the Earth. Her grandparents gave her a map that uses the Mercator projection and her uncle gave her a globe. She is comparing how certain countries look differently on the two gifts and trying to figure out why that is. She is specifically looking at Norway, a country near the North Pole, and Mexico, a country close to the equator.

Question: On which representation of Earth will Norway look bigger?
Answer: map

Situation: Stef is a young girl interested in the geography of the world. For her birthday, she got two different representations of the Earth. Her grandparents gave her a map that uses the Mercator projection and her uncle gave her a globe. She is comparing how certain countries look differently on the two gifts and trying to figure out why that is. She is specifically looking at Norway, a country near the North Pole, and Mexico, a country close to the equator.

Question: On which representation of Earth will Norway look smaller?
Answer: globe