Doors vs. Wheels
Photo of cabinets and chair; In the picture there are four doors and seven visible wheels, with two on the back of the chromecart unseen. Photo by: Alma Perez
April 6, 2022
The latest internet takeover has been whether there are more wheels or doors in the world. In the last few weeks, social media users have been debating the side they believe has more.
You are entitled to whatever opinion you form since it would take way too long for anyone to count all the wheels and doors in the world. However, the obvious answer is clearly wheels.
A lot of things that have doors need wheels to function, like drawers and cars. There are also vehicles that move with wheels that don’t have doors, like bikes and scooters. Wheels are used everywhere for convenience, while doors just block or open a way of entering.
Millikan’s math teacher, Mr. Beavers, and QUEST senior, Lucas Lopez agree.
“Why wheels? Because kids don’t play with doors,” says Beavers. “Kids play with wheels, like lego wheels and toy cars.”
A lot of children’s toys include multiple wheels and rarely ever working doors. On average LEGO alone makes around 318 million toy wheels a year. That number is just one company and one type of toy and does not include other companies, manufacturers, or other wheeled toys.
Also, there are many things with wheels used for convenience.
“There are rolling chairs, conveyor belts, dollies for clothes,” says Lopez.
Finally, wheels are more often replaced than doors are, so there are many more wheels in the world just sitting around in junkyards or in garages than there are doors.
A common argument for doors is that there are skyscrapers, offices, hotels, and hospitals that have many rooms with doors. However, this argument fails to take into account everything within those buildings that have multiple wheels.
Ultimately, this fun debate had circled the internet for a few weeks and caused some light arguments. We’d like to hear what you think here.
Kassidy Echnoz • Apr 13, 2022 at 12:44 pm
In issue 6/2022 (published on April 6, 2022), Alma Perez wrote an article titled “Wheels vs. Doors”. In this article Alma argues that there are more wheels in the world than doors. Her main arguments are that there are more wheels because wheels are replaced more frequently, children play with toys that have wheels, and many things have wheels for convenience. Alma also brought up the opposing side by saying “A common argument for doors is that there are skyscrapers, offices, hotels, and hospitals that have many rooms with doors.” She refutes this though by pointing out that the argument doesn’t acknowledge the wheels within the buildings. I agree that there are most likely more wheels than doors in the world. At first I was definitely team doors and one of the popular arguments I have come across is that there are so many coffins in the world, which have doors. But, After hearing more arguments I am most definitely team door. Thank you for writing this very fun article Alma.