Why do we not see the actual depth of a lake?

This is due to the refraction of light; light rays bend as they move from water to the air. When the light ray from water reaches our eye, the eye traces them back as straight lines (shown as dashed lines) which intersect at a higher position than where the actual rays originated. This cause the depth to appear higher and we cannot see the actual depth of the lake.

The figure below illustrates the same.



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