Gravity is never observed directly but is known through its effects on constrained matter. Accelerometers, gravimeters, force plates, and biological vestibular systems consistently register gravity as stress, shear, or support force, vanishing in free fall. This article examines what gravity-measuring instruments actually measure, independent of theoretical interpretation. Newtonian attraction and General Relativity successfully accommodate these measurements through post-hoc interpretive frameworks, while Cosmic Influx Theory proposes a measurement-first interpretation in which gravitational loading is treated as resistance to a continuous momentum flux. Without challenging operational equivalence, the analysis highlights the importance of grounding gravitational interpretation in the physical measurement chain and invites renewed reflection on how gravity is experimentally known.
Ruud Loeffen (Thu,) studied this question.