What is a wave?

A wave is fundamentally defined as a disturbance that transfers energy through space or matter. This can be understood through various examples, such as sound waves traveling through air, water waves spreading across a surface, or light waves moving through empty space. In each case, there is a transfer of energy from one point to another without the physical transport of matter itself. For instance, when you drop a stone into a pond, the ripples that form are the wave disturbances moving outward, transferring energy from the point of disturbance across the water.

The other options do not accurately describe what a wave is. A single static point in a medium does not convey energy nor represent a dynamic phenomenon like a wave. Similarly, while particles can exhibit wave-like properties in quantum mechanics, they are not themselves defined as waves. Finally, an object with fixed dimensions does not embody the dynamic nature of a wave and does not involve energy transfer within a medium. Thus, defining a wave in terms of disturbance and energy transfer encompasses its essential characteristics.