That makes sense for a sphere but it's difficult to imagine for a flat plane

Yes it is

That's what is observed

Oh really

Lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdBR3tDXyVw

Why is that object rising as it moves back?

With your refraction model the earth would be lit more than 50% at all times

To say it is not 50% is splitting hairs. It's very nearly 50%

So you should re look at that

The gif is an example of perspective and angular resolution

Objects close to the water

How they look as they get further from you

Like a boat

Or mountain

That object doesn't look natural

Ir building

In that gif

Its based off the angular resolution equation

Optics

Things disappear bottom up

Due to the angular resolution

The angle at which the light is coming to the eye or lens

How does it turn into a letter H from its original shape

That doesn't make sense

You're telling me the middle-bottom portion disappears first? Lol

Who the heck made that silly gif

Angular resolution does not reduce a portion of the object that can be seen. It only makes the image less clear.

You might want to look up angular resolution

When you see an object, like a boat, don't think of it as a boat, think of it as a trillion photons of light bouncing off the boat and traveling to your eye

Those photons all have a different angle they are traveling to your eye

And which directions can the photons travel in

The photons on the most shallow angle, the ones that are closest to you, will blur first

The photons further away you will still see

Photons can travel at any angle, any direction

The angular resolution of the eye is .02 degrees

Im talking about the photons traveling directly to your eye

Every square millimeter of the object has multiple photons reflecting off it traveling towards your retinas

I just said that

Ok good