Final answer:
When a Java program throws an exception, the exception is passed back to the calling method. If there is no catch block to handle it, the exception propagates up the call stack. This can continue until the exception is caught or causes the program to terminate.
Step-by-step explanation:
When we "throw an exception" in Java, it means that we are creating an exception object and handing it off to the runtime system.
The correct answer to what happens when we throw an exception is that we pass the exception back to the calling method. If the calling method has a try-catch block that can handle the type of exception thrown, then it will catch the exception and execute the catch block's code.
If the calling method does not have an appropriate catch block, the exception will propagate up the call stack to the next higher method, which will have a chance to catch it. This process continues until the exception is caught by a method or it reaches the main method, potentially causing the program to terminate if uncaught.