thicker strings would require more excitation energy ->

higher tension

note vibrates at specific frequency -> more mass more momentum -> more sustain
technically

THE PHYSICS OF WHY STRING GAUGE CHANGES TONE ->

Honestly, this is one of the few "tone" things that has actual legitimate science
behind it.

Watered down explanation ->

An "A2" note (your guitars "A" string on standard tuning) is 110hz. This means when
your pluck the string, it vibrates at 110 cycles (all the way up and all the way
down; "crest to crest") to produce that tone. This is irrelevant to anything at
this point. If you have 30 gauge or 80 gauge, it doesnt matter, you are adjusting
the tension of the string to vibrate at that frequency.

So to start, lets analyze the same string on a les paul vs a strat. Les paul scale
length is 24.75" and a strat is 25.5". The equation for frequency takes length into
account; you divide by the length, so when you RAISE the length, you create a
larger number on the denominator. -> 1/25.5 is a smaller number than 1/24.75. So
since the string itself is the same, the density and radius will remain equal,
mass acceleration isnt changing any time soon on earth (lol), so the only remaining
thing to solve for is.... TENSION. Remember we're aiming for 110hz; so since the
strat is longer, the tension must rise proportionally. So for a set of 9s on a les
paul the string tension is always less when tuned to concert pitch than the same
set on a strat. This is why its "easier to play" on a les paul. This is also why
action (string height) changes the feel of the instrument, and why intonation is
important.

Now that we know length and tension are directly proportional, lets look at the
same guitar; the les paul used in this video. A2 is still 110hz; so what happens
when we change string gauge? Well its a similar effect to the strengths LENGTH; the
strings diameter is also on the denominator. To keep things simple, Im just gonna
use the string packs named size. So 9s vs 11s? 1/9 is a larger number than
1/11... so going from 9s to 11's we have a larger number on the bottom... we also
now have to raise the tension directly proportional to get to the same pitch. So
much like the strat vs les paul example, this is why its harder to play heavier
strings...

"but thats just feel, what about tone".. yes... So here we use newtons second law
of motion -> "Force = mass x acceleration". (remember, this IS a watered down
explanation...) So, we can look at this way -> we want to accelerate the string
from resting to vibrating to make a tone. I'll get into the "acceleration" part
after this; but for now lets look at a 9 gauge vs 11 gauge ... We're gonna apply
1kg of force with our pick. Pretty easy conceptually to understand the smaller
strings have less mass; but mass is the known; so we solve for acceleration here. 1
kg of force on 9 gauge is less acceleration than 1kg of force on 11 gauge. This is
how we can play with "dynamics"; pick softly and the acceleration drops -> less
volume; conversely pick hard and acceleration raises -> more volume.

So to wrap this up in a nice package -> We now understand why string gauge changes
tension and mass, but how does this change "sound"? Well, now we have to look at
something called "amplitude". This is the DISTANCE strings travel up and down
during that vibration we went over. Keep remembering, we're looking at the same A2
note. Its 110hz. "crest to crest" is ALWAYS 110 times per second for this note...
but now what changes is how far up and down these crests go! So how do we move up
and down MORE while maintaining the same frequency? The speed of the vibration is
now what changes. The top of these crests are called "nodes". So when the nodes are
further apart, for them to reach the same timing, the larger movement has to be
moving faster. Dont confuse this with the strings overall frequency. This is where
that "acceleration" bit comes in.

With this increased speed, we have three (well, two for each type of guitar)
effects that happen.... this is the "cool part" that everyone wants to know ->
1) the string has more momentum; so it wants to stay moving longer.... oh yes...
physics proves that thicker gauge strings have more sustain! The problem comes with
perception; human hearing is a very narrow band really, so the differences arent
necessarily that meaningful on slight string gauge changes. Your strat with 9s isnt
going to magically sustain forever with 10s. If you jump to say 13's though, theres
going to be a noticeable difference for sure.
2) on an acoustic guitar, this is more energy (F=MA remember?), so the increase in
energy vibrates the guitars top more -> more volume. So yes, thicker strings on an
acoustic is definitely more volume.
3) but... electric guitars dont vibrate the tops....??? Nope. They use pickups.
These are coils of copper surrounding a magnet. This is the same physics found in
power generation and motoring action. So what happens is the magnet has a field,
and when a string that is magnetic (this is why bronze strings dont work on
electrics btw) moves through this field it actually induces a voltage generation in
those copper coils. The MORE times this happens, as well more mass of the object
moving through this flux (string gauge :D) the MORE voltage gets generated. This is
your guitars output! So as we learned, thicker strings are vibrating faster,
longer AND are ...thicker lol, this means you get more output, for a longer time.
This is translated into more intput signal going to your amp; which is directly
proportional to "tone".

So... yes. String gauge absolutely has a fairly large effect on tone. Larger gauged
strings have FASTER (not "more"!) vibrations per second, more mass, and have more
momentum (sustain) than corresponding lower gauge strings.

So as I said a couple times, this is definitely a "Sesame Street" explanation, but

it covers the important aspects of this, to a degree I think anyone can understand.
Theres honestly quite a bit of stuff thats going on thats beyond this scope though,
and that would be a waste of time to explain (things like why you cant just hit a
string harder to get the same output as a thicker string). But yeah, to those that
say "string gauge doesnt matter"; sorry but thats just objectively wrong. A better
comment would be "string gauge's changes to tone arent important to me".