Does a moving particle count as a wave?

[far far away]

TL;DR

I am not talking about quantum mechanics

According to the definition of a wave from Wikipedia:
A wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities.


Now, imagine a particle as a disturbance in mass density that propagates through space and time. From this perspective, I cannot think of a single reason why this could not be interpreted as a wave.

 

[Ibix]

A classical particle won't diffract when passing through a slit. In particular, it will not pass through a slit that is narrower than the particle, whereas a wave would pass something through.

 

[A.T.]

Now, imagine a particle as a disturbance in mass density that propagates through space and time.

What equilibrium is being disturbed here? Non-uniform mass distributions can be in equilibrium, so changing the mass distribution is not necessarily disturbing an equilibrium.

 

[martinbn]

TL;DR: I am not talking about quantum mechanics

From this perspective, I cannot think of a single reason why this could not be interpreted as a wave.

This way any change can be interpreted as a wave. It would be so general that it would be a useless terminology.

 

[kuruman]

TL;DR: I am not talking about quantum mechanics

According to the definition of a wave from Wikipedia:
A wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities.

So I googled "What is a wave?" and this is what I got. If you go by this more complete AI overview and not by what Wikipedia says, your question is answered.

 

[jingcai]

A moving particle is not a wave; a particle is just a particle. A wave is a state exhibited by a particle when it loses the structure that sustains its condensed form. Scattered photons with depleted energy give rise to energy waves.

 

[kuruman]

A wave is a state exhibited by a particle when it loses the structure that sustains its condensed form.

I don't know what that means.

For example, an ice cube is a collection of water molecules in "condensed form." If I add enough heat to un-sustain the condensed form by converting the ice cube into steam, do the free H₂O molecules constitute a wave?

I am sure you will say no, so let's take this further. I can un-sustain the "condensed form" of a water molecule further by zapping it with an electrical discharge to get a H⁺ ion and a OH^- ion. Is that a wave? Do I need to un-sustain the condensed form of the proton (H⁺) into quarks to get a wave?

You see where this is going.

 

[russ_watters]

According to the definition of a wave from Wikipedia:
A wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities.

The first word of the next sentence of the article is "periodic". I guess what you are implying/asking is whether a wave can be non-periodic/oscillating. I don't think so.