theguy on Nostr: I am not sure that a pencil placed halfway inside the glass is an accurate analogy ...

I am not sure that a pencil placed halfway inside the glass is an accurate analogy here. Rather, imagine a standing pencil placed behind a non-transparent full glass of ice cold water and completely obstructed by it in a hot room. Supposedly refraction would optically lift the pencil up from behind the glass.

My problem is that I have never seen optical "refractions" and "mirages" scientifically documented including measurements of % of humidity and temperatures of different layers of air, their relative placement and etc. It is always only theoretical scenarios that can't be experimentally replicated for some reason.