A heated debate recently showed on social media apps, mainly Tik Tok, questioning whether the world’s total number of wheels outnumbers the number of doors or not. Large numbers of both exist in the world and people on both sides hold strong arguments. Each argument takes different things into consideration so that their side can win.

The Oxford dictionary considers a wheel a “circular object that revolves on an axle and is fixed below a vehicle or other object to enable it to move easily over the ground”. It also considers a door a “hinged, sliding, or revolving barrier at the entrance to a building, room, or vehicle, or in the framework of a cupboard”. This concludes that doors consist of drawers, cupboards, car doors, closets and more. Wheels consist of vehicle wheels, chair wheels, conveyors and more.

“I used to believe that there were more doors, but I also used to be a fool. There is no doubt in my mind that there are more wheels than doors. Think of a grocery store. You walk in a main set of doors and there may be a few scattered around, but every single shopping cart has four wheels,” freshman Nicolas Fusaro said.

More wheels exist in the world compared to doors. Most objects that contain wheels contain at least two. Think about an office firm; the number of rolling chairs with about five or six wheels each, and maybe only a couple of doors to enter and exit the room. Toy cars commonly provide for the wheels’ side because companies such as LEGO produce major amounts of toy wheels each day.

“The easiest way to prove there are more wheels than doors is the immense popularity of Hotwheels and legos. There are over six billion hot wheel cars that have been made; multiply that by the average of four wheels on a car, you get at least 24 billion wheels from hot wheels alone,” senior Michael Fusaro said.

Vehicles such as motorcycles, skateboards, scooters, hoverboards and bikes lack doors. Millions of motorcycles, cars and bikes exist in the world. A common argument shows five doors on a four-wheel car, stating one extra door, the trunk, on every four-wheel car totals to outnumber the four wheels. A majority of people forget about objects like the steering wheel. Cars and trucks often carry a spare wheel and larger production trucks found at each large delivery company consist of eight or more wheels.

The failure to recognize the hidden wheels in items creates the biggest flaw in the door argument. Wheels, a common simple machine, secretly show up everywhere, hidden inside countless objects. Doors mainly serve one purpose, compared to the need for wheels in nearly everything.

Different people argue workplaces hold more wheels than doors. Conveyor belts consist of large numbers of wheels to roll things across and create a process in a factory. Hospital beds, stretchers, wheelchairs and tools like the vital signs monitors all attach to wheels. Almost everyone in an airport carries suitcases with four wheels, not to mention planes and conveyors for security occupy wheels.

“Think of trucks. There might be a door or two, but they can have more than 18 wheels on them. There are even UPS airlines where the floors are made entirely of immense amounts of wheels so they can slide packages along,” Fusaro said.

Household items such as vacuums and even furniture consist of wheels. Each computer in a house comes with a mouse with a wheel in it. The argument that drawers serve as doors cancels out because the simple machine of a wheel makes drawers function properly. Numerous sliding closet doors also attach to wheels to allow them to work.

The total number of wheels overpowers the total number of doors. In each person’s everyday life, wheels show through most places and activities. The simple invention of the wheel revolutionized industries and now exists in most inventions. In conclusion, wheels keep the world turning.