The Internet Can't Agree On Whether There Are More Doors Or Wheels In The World
My money is on the doors.
Vadym Andrushchenko / BELL KA PANG / Shutterstock.com Every time the internet gets into an argument, it’s likely about something silly.
First, it was about a dress and whether or not it was white and gold or blue and black, then it was about a voice saying ‘yanny’ or ‘laurel.’
This time, however, the debate isn’t trying to decipher what something is but instead trying to quantify the amounts of these things in the world.
A tweet started a debate after asking: Are there more doors or wheels in the world?
A Twitter user that goes by the name Ryan Nixon (@NewYorkNixon) made a tweet talking about this little debate he and his buddies were having.
“My mates and I are having the STUPIDEST debate… And I am here for it,” he writes. “Do you think there are more doors or wheels in the world?
In the Tweet, he includes a poll that is shockingly close with doors pulling ahead by 7.2% and over 223,347 votes.
The Tweet went out 1:49 a.m. on March 5th, 2022, and the world hasn’t been the same since.
Let’s look at the basics: what exactly is a door? And what exactly is a wheel?
Well, a door constitutes “a usually swinging or sliding barrier by which an entry is closed and opened,” according to Merriam-Webster.
This definition makes the most sense without getting too specific about location or purpose.
A wheel is “a circular frame of hard material that may be solid, partly solid, or spoked and that is capable of turning on an axle,” also according to Merriam-Webster.
Both of these definitions can lead to a lot of creative ideas that one wouldn’t normally think about.
The scroll wheel on my mouse, the volume wheels on my headset, the links on my keychain, all of these things in my immediate vicinity could be considered wheels.
However, the moment I start to think about how many doors are in my room, I get a little bit overwhelmed.
Drawers, cabinets, closet doors, the door to my room, even my window, all add up to a whopping 12 doors.
But then, think about it this way: how do drawers leave their cubbies? If you didn’t know, drawers typically have two rails on either side where a wheel sits along a track and allows the drawer to move in and out of its cubby, instantly adding eight wheels to the two drawers (with wheels) I have.
When you think about all of the different things with both doors and wheels — specifically cars — the answer starts to get a little wonky and things spiral out of control.
A regular car can have four tires — or four wheels. Cars also typically have 4 doors unless it’s a coupe.
But is the hood a door? It’s a swinging barrier that leads to the engine, and what about the trunk? The glove compartment? The cupholder? Maybe you have a console with storage capabilities.
What about under the hood — how many wheels exist under there? The belt loop could have anywhere between three to eight wheels alone.
Then, think about 18-wheeler trucks that only have a couple of doors.
Let’s look outside of all these things and go to a Walmart or any other department store or even grocery store. Think about all the shopping carts. But while you’re at it, let’s go to the frozen goods or the refrigerated section — that’s a lot of doors.
Let’s go to the gym, ever been inside of a locker room? Doors everywhere. Do those lockers have combination locks on them? Great! Now every door is outfitted with its very own wheel.
People have brought up toys, and more specifically, LEGOs. The toy company is officially the largest tire manufacturer in the world and produces more than 318 million tires a year.
But this doesn’t stop the door voters, as there are likely millions upon millions of doors that exist without the presence of wheels. Ships, shipping containers, storage facilities, apartment buildings, hotels, motels, the lists go on forever.
There seems to be no end in sight for the real answer as the quantifiable amount is likely way more than we could ever predict, but for this battle on Nixon’s tweet, wheels stole the show.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.