Doors (37910)
A door is a generally floor-length opening in a wall (or other partition), often equipped with a hinged or sliding panel which can be moved to leave the opening accessible, or to close it more or less securely. more...
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Doors are nearly universal in structures of all kinds (especially houses and other buildings), allowing passage between inside and outside, or among internal rooms. Doors are also found in vehicles, cupboards, cages, etc.
The purpose of a door opening is:
to allow people, animals and objects to pass;
for ventilation;
The purpose of a door closure is:
preventing passage of infiltration air; reducing air drafts and creating an enclosed space that can be heated or cooled more effectively (revolving doors are especially efficient for this purpose);
privacy, and noise reduction;
keeping occupants inside a vehicle;
regulation of access, especially when combined with various types of locks;
for aesthetics (e.g. cupboard doors cutting off view of the contents);
to help prevent the spread of fire;
Doors and doorways can also appear in metaphorical or mystical situations; for example, a spiritualist might speak of "opening a door to the other world". Doors can have ritual purposes (one example concerns the doorkeeping duties of the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod).
The term door can refer either to the opening or to the movable panel or panels which closes it. The term doorway can be used to refer specifically to the opening. When framed in wood for snug fitting of a door, the doorway consists of two vertical jambs on either side, a lintel or head jamb at the top, and perhaps a threshold at the bottom. When a door has more than one movable panel, one of the panels may be called a leaf.
See door furniture for a discussion of attachments to doors such as doorhandles and doorknobs.
Types of doors
A door may slide or rotate. Sometimes a door, though not just sliding, stays parallel to the wall while opening and closing.
Sliding is usually horizontal. In opened position the door may be exposed on one side; a person leaning on that side when the door is closed, can be hurt when the door is opened. Also an object can obstruct the door. Sometimes the door is constructed such that in closed state the sliding door forms a smooth continuation of the wall, e.g. in the case of a sliding side door of a vehicle.
The door may also slide between two panels (pocket door).
In the case of rotation, the axis of rotation is usually vertical, but e.g. for garage doors often horizontal, above the door opening. Sometimes the axis of rotation is, with a special construction, not in the plane of the door, on the other side than that in which the door opens, to reduce the space required on the side to which the door opens. This is sometimes the case in a train, for the door to the toilet, opening inward.
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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