Certified Paraoptometric (CPO) Practice Exam 2025 – All-in-One Study Guide to Ensure Exam Success!

When light passes through a minus lens, which is a concave lens, it diverges or spreads out. This occurs because the shape of the lens causes light rays entering it to bend away from the principal axis. As a result, the light appears to originate from a point behind the lens, creating a virtual image that is upright and smaller than the object. This property of diverging light is crucial in correcting nearsightedness, where a minus lens allows for clear vision by spreading the light rays so that they properly focus on the retina.

The other options do not accurately describe the behavior of light in relation to a minus lens: converging would indicate a positive or convex lens, reflecting pertains to light bouncing off a surface, and absorbing refers to light being taken in by the material rather than passing through it. Each of these processes involves different physical principles that are not applicable to the action of light traveling through a minus lens.