What is one of the main effects of sunlight being split by a prism?

When sunlight passes through a prism, it is refracted or bent at different angles depending on the wavelength of each color component in the light. This refraction causes the white light, which is made up of multiple colors, to separate into its constituent colors, creating a spectrum. The classic display of colors that emerges resembles a rainbow, ranging from red to violet. This phenomenon is known as dispersion, and it is one of the main effects of light interacting with a prism.

In contrast to the other options, sunlight is not absorbed completely, so there is no increase in light intensity from a prism; rather, the intensity of light can appear to spread out. Additionally, while some light can indeed be transformed into heat through absorption in certain materials, this is not the primary role of a prism, which is to separate light into colors rather than convert it to heat. Hence, the formation of a rainbow spectrum is the most notable and accurate effect observed when sunlight is split by a prism.