• Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    I’ll push back on the gears are not wheels statement. They serve the exact same function as wheels (as in they spin to allow something else to move or spin relative to them), just with teeth to add friction and make the ratios less dependent in the specific diameters and/or flaws in curvature (give them a large thing to grab onto to prevent small variations from having an impact).

    Though I’ll grant that hinges aren’t wheels (while they do have an axle and involve spinning, the hinged object itself is more like the wheel than the hinge.

    Also drawers, if they have tracks, have 2 or 4 wheels each.

    • Zarobi@aussie.zone
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      4 hours ago

      My own definition for this question is, a wheel is called a wheel. You don’t call gears wheels, they’re a mechanism. If we get too clever with definitions, I have 700 small wheels in my medicine cabinet that facilitate my daily movement