Hello

So I went to a mall and came onto this shop which has an aquarium in front of it, with a flat-screen TV submerged in it, about a foot or two away from the aquarium wall. When I walked closer and closer to the aquarium, the flat-screen TV looked like it's bent inwards (as if I were looking at the insides of a bowl).

Now, I understand that due to the difference between the refraction index (or whatever; can't remember exactly which) between water and air (the glass container of the aquarium should be negligible due to being too thin), objects submerged deep enough in water should exhibit strange appearances due to the refraction. But why is the effect a bending instead of mere lengthening? I mean that, due to the refraction, the TV should have simply looked bigger than it actually is, especially compared to when it's viewed from a distance or when put outside water. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Refraction causes "bending". Try putting a stick into water and see how part of it "bends".

True, or even splits.....

Kinda as I feared I explained it not really correctly. Lemme try describing it again:

So this flat-screen TV in the aquarium looked concave (not flat anymore), as if it were punched in, when I looks at the aquarium from close enough. As far as I've seen or read, water-to-air refractions often cause magnification, bends, or splits (case of stick in water), but altering the shape of a flat object making it look concave is a new to me. Any ideas?

but altering the shape of a flat object making it look concave is a new to me. Any ideas?

Were the walls of the aquarium flat?

The light rays from the center of the flat screen to your eyes were hitting the wall of the aquamarium straight. The rays from the outer parts of the screen hit the wall at an angle on the way to your eyes. That angle of incidence changes the amount of refraction.

So the image of the edges is refracted, bent, more - the part of the image directly across from your pupil, at 90 degrees (or 0 degrees, I forget how the angle is taken) to the aquarium glass, is not refracted at all.

Were the walls of the aquarium flat?
Yes, the aquarium wall from where I noticed that was flat.

The light rays from the center of the flat screen to your eyes were hitting the wall of the aquamarium straight. The rays from the outer parts of the screen hit the wall at an angle on the way to your eyes. That angle of incidence changes the amount of refraction.
Indeed, this is exactly like what I've learned.
So the image of the edges is refracted, bent, more - the part of the image directly across from your pupil
As learned.
at 90 degrees (or 0 degrees, I forget how the angle is taken) to the aquarium glass, is not refracted at all.
This should account to some parts of the aquarium becoming out of sight (such as the base substrate of the 'rium)

(I hope this next thing I say won't confuse you...)
But it's as if my eyes were telling me that the distance from my eyes to ANY point of the submerged object is the same-
Now when I think about it, could this have anything to do with depth perception? In that, thinking that the object was about 1 foot away from the aquarium wall, my eyes 'calculated' the distance from them to any point of the object. Then due to refraction, the object would've looked as if it were somewhere deeper, so the eyes adjusted this by thinking that the object wasn't really flat, but concave when viewed up close, thus 'preserving' the distance calculations?

I'm still dizzy here...