Which term denotes a device that separates light into a spectrum?

Which term denotes a device that separates light into a spectrum?

• A. Filter
• B. Ciliary muscles
• C. Prism
• D. Normal line

Answer: (C)

Light is split into its colors when it changes speed in a material, a process called dispersion. A prism uses this by bending different wavelengths by different amounts as light enters and leaves the glass. Shorter wavelengths (like blue) bend more, longer wavelengths (like red) bend less, so white light spreads into a visible spectrum. A filter, instead, transmits or blocks certain wavelengths but doesn’t disperse them into separate colors. The ciliary muscles adjust the eye’s lens for focusing, not for splitting light, and the normal line is just a reference direction, not a dispersing tool. So the term that denotes a device that separates light into a spectrum is a prism.

Light is split into its colors when it changes speed in a material, a process called dispersion. A prism uses this by bending different wavelengths by different amounts as light enters and leaves the glass. Shorter wavelengths (like blue) bend more, longer wavelengths (like red) bend less, so white light spreads into a visible spectrum. A filter, instead, transmits or blocks certain wavelengths but doesn’t disperse them into separate colors. The ciliary muscles adjust the eye’s lens for focusing, not for splitting light, and the normal line is just a reference direction, not a dispersing tool. So the term that denotes a device that separates light into a spectrum is a prism.