The Mercator projection is frequently used in classrooms because its straight lines accurately depict the areas of continents and countries

a. True
b. False
Indicate whether the statement is true or false


False
RATIONALE: However, the projection's usefulness at sea makes it largely unsuitable for other purposes, including reference world maps. In order for the rhumb lines to be shown straight, the projection must continually increase the spacing between the parallels away from the Equator. This results in enormous distortions of size approaching the polar areas (in fact, the poles themselves cannot be shown on a Mercator map as they lie at infinity). On a Mercator map, Greenland and Africa appear similarly sized, whereas in reality Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland!

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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