Final answer:
Guitars can be strummed or plucked, and when a string is plucked, it vibrates and creates sound through the oscillation of air molecules. These vibrations are periodic motion, leading to the production of sound characterized by varying wavelengths compared to the waves on the string itself.
Step-by-step explanation:
The text suggests that guitars can be strummed or plucked. When discussing the classification of musical instruments based on how sound is produced, a guitar would fall into the category of plucked string instruments. This classification is consistent with historical usage of similar instruments during medieval times, which included various plucked string instruments like the lute and psaltery.
In terms of physics, when a guitar string is plucked, oscillations occur, and these oscillations produce sound waves in the surrounding air. These vibrations are examples of periodic motion, which can be described mathematically. Also, the vibration of strings and sound waves involves the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy and back, resulting in the production of sound.
The wavelength of the sound wave produced by a plucked string is not necessarily equal to the wavelength of the waves on the string because sound waves travel through the surrounding air, which has different properties compared to the string.