Can someone please explain this satement.?

Question

a note played on a chello string is a superposition of many standing waves resonating on the string as the bow is slid across the string.

Answer 1

When a string is plucked or bowed, it vibrates side to side in a wave shape. Since the wave doesn't travel along the string it is a standing wave.

A single string can actually vibrate at several frequencies at the same time. The fundamental frequency is the lowest frequency and produces the lowest tone. It also has the longest wavelength, which is the full length of the string. However, at the same time portions of the string can vibrate at higher frequencies with shorter wavelengths, and produce higher pitches called harmonics. In the first harmonic for example each half of the string vibrates in opposite directions around a node at the center. This produces a tone an octave higher, but with less volume than the fundamental.
Further, each third of the string can vibrate with a higher frequency around nodes at the third points. All of these waves are superimposed on each other, resulting in a complex shape of the string at any moment, and the combined sound of the fundamental and harmonic tones forms the timbre of the instrument.

Answer 2

All elastic bodies vibrate (resonate) at a discrete set of frequencies corresponding to different deformation shapes. This correspond to sinusoidal shapes with different wavelengths for a bow string fixed on both ends called "standing waves". The bow can stimulate several at once, depending on where it is applied. They all occur simultaneously without effecting each other. That's called superposition.

Answer 3

If you want to see what standing waves are, stretch out and pluck a rubber band in front of a TV screen (with a picture tube, not LCD or projection).