More wheels or doors: Are there more doors or wheels in the world? Definitions and how many doors in the Burj Khalifa?

Answers to some of the most pressing questions around the doors or wheels debate.
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Originating on Twitter and rapidly spreading across the internet, the question of whether there are more doors or wheels has divided people massively.

The answer might seem obvious one way or the other at first, but as more examples have been given, the debate has escalated rapidly.

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Science education content creator Hank Green has even thrown his hat into the ring on TikTok, along with various other video creators and online faces of all ages.

Although it’s hard to see a way that the question can truly be answered, the questions and ideas being offered are entertainment in and of themselves.

Here’s a look at some of the key points of debate around the topic.

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What is the definition of wheels?

The debate over doors and wheels has spread like wildfire across the internet. Photo: Trina Snow & Dmitry Zvolskiy / Pexels / Canva Pro.The debate over doors and wheels has spread like wildfire across the internet. Photo: Trina Snow & Dmitry Zvolskiy / Pexels / Canva Pro.
The debate over doors and wheels has spread like wildfire across the internet. Photo: Trina Snow & Dmitry Zvolskiy / Pexels / Canva Pro.

Also from Oxford Languages, a wheel is defined as “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”.

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Debate has also popped up around the definition of a wheel to include steering wheels in cars and toy wheels, like in LEGO.

When was the wheel invented?

The wheel is believed to have been invented in the 4th millenium BC, in Lower Mesopotomia, which is now Iraq.

The first wheels were made of solid discs of wood inserted onto rotating axles.

In 2000 BC, a design closer to the modern wheel was recorded, with the discs being hollowed out to make them lighter and more practical.

What is the definition of doors?

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First things first, a door is defined by Oxford Languages as “a hinged, sliding, or revolving barrier at the entrance to a building, room, or vehicle, or in the framework of a cupboard”.

The various different forms of doors (hinged, sliding, or revolving) means it encompasses anything that shuts over a doorway or between areas.

How many doors in the Burj Khalifa?

Not only does the world’s tallest building have the two highest revolving doors in the world, it has a lot of other ones as well.

The buildings contains 17,000 doors, a fact which is being touted by many as proof that doors should win this ongoing digital debate.

Are there more doors or wheels in the world?

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In the original Twitter poll, which gathered over 35,000 votes, doors won over wheels by 51.9% over 48.1%.

However, the argument has continued, with new questions being posed.

For example, if you think about urban living, high-rise buildings will contain dozens if not hundreds of doors, with people rarely owning cars or other things that have wheels.

However, others have then brought up the fact that you regularly need to replace wheels on vehicles, ranging from bicycles up to locomotive trains, but you rarely have to replace doors, bringing the overall number of wheels up.

At the end of the day, there is no practical way to solve the debate – but it’s still entertaining to keep exploring the possibilities in the meantime.

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