White light consists of what?

• A. White light is a combination of spectral colors.
• B. White light is a single color.
• C. White light is only red.
• D. White light is ultraviolet and infrared only.

Answer: (A)

White light is made up of many wavelengths across the visible spectrum. When all those wavelengths are present together in roughly equal amounts, the light looks white to our eyes. A prism showing a rainbow demonstrates this: white light splits into the colors from red to violet because it is a blend of spectral colors, not just one color.

Why the other ideas don’t fit: white light isn’t a single color, it’s a mix of many colors. It isn’t limited to red, and ultraviolet and infrared lie outside the visible range, so they aren’t what we perceive as white light, even though they exist in the broader electromagnetic spectrum.