How does sunlight create a continuous spectrum?

Sunlight creates a continuous spectrum through the process of refraction when it passes through a prism. A prism is specifically designed to bend and separate light into its component colors due to the varying degrees of bending that different wavelengths of light experience. As light enters the prism, it slows down and bends at the surfaces, causing the different wavelengths (or colors) to spread out and form a spectrum.

This results in the visible spectrum ranging from red to violet, smoothly transitioning between colors without any gaps. Thus, when white light, which contains all wavelengths, is refracted through a prism, it disperses into a continuous range of colors. The other options, while related to light and color, do not accurately describe the direct process that produces a continuous spectrum. For example, reflecting off surfaces can create colors but does not produce a spectrum, diffraction involves bending light around obstacles and typically creates patterns rather than a spread of colors, and interacting with color pigments alters perceived color rather than generating a spectrum.