When a beam of white light falls on a prism, it gets refracted (bent) as it enters and exits the prism due to the different speeds of light in different media. This causes the different colors of the spectrum to separate and spread out, resulting in a spectrum of colors.

The angle by which the light is deviated (or bent) depends on the wavelength of the light. Different colors of light have different wavelengths, with red light having the longest wavelength and violet light having the shortest wavelength.

The question asks for the color of light that experiences the maximum deviation when passing through a prism. So, we need to determine which color has the greatest angle of deviation.

It is known that the angle of deviation is greater for shorter wavelengths (violet light) and smaller for longer wavelengths (red light). Therefore, the maximum deviation occurs for violet light.

Hence, option 2, violet light, is the correct answer.

Alert - correct answer should be option 2, violet light.