Why is Australia sometimes considered a continent, but Greenland never is? Aren’t they both large islands that could both pass as continents?

Question

Why is Australia sometimes considered a continent, but Greenland never is? Aren’t they both large islands that could both pass as continents?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

Earth is round or close to it, so it isn’t possible to accurately draw it as a 2D map into a rectangle.

That’s why we use projections to draw them.

Mercator projection is good for navigation as it preserves angles, but it distorts sizes. Things closer to the equator are drawn smaller and things closer to poles are made larger.

Australia is much larger than Greenland even if it doesn’t look like it on the map.