I'm beyond drag. That was the whole point of my post. If 20 miles isn't far enough, make it 100 miles and consider it again. There is no air in this example...
If there is no air, then the Earth accelerates up to you with no change in overall net acceleration. Why can't you understand this?
If I'm moving at the same speed as the Earth or greater, how can it accelerate up to me with no change in overall net acceleration. That's the part I'm having problems with.
If this is not a fitting allegory explain to me why. Remember that there is no air to "drag".
Because the earth will be accelerating at 9.8m/s2 and you will be accelerating at 0 after you jump out of the plane.
Why for Christs sake? What is the dynamic that arrests your momentum? Can you honestly say the plane the body jumped out of wasn't sharing the earth's 9.8m/s/s acceleration? If that plane was moving in strong enough of an upward direction when you jump you'd still be moving up faster than UA post exit. I'm getting tired of arguing this, so this is your last chance. What relegates the jettisoned body to non-UA status? WHAT IS THE DAMN FORCE THAT REMOVES MY BODY'S UA? It was there a second ago in the ship, where did it go?
The UA accelerates the earth. The earth pushes the atmosphere. As the plane travels through this atmosphere its wings generate lift (e.g. upwards acceleration - the same in RET). For the plane to increase in altitude the lift (upwards acceleration) has to be greater than 9.8m/s
2 (the same in RET). If the plane wants to remain at a constant altitude its lift just has to be equal to 9.8m/s
2 (the same as in RET).
While you are on the plane you are undergoing the same acceleration as the plane. When you jump out of the plane there isn't a hard floor beneath you that you can't fall through, there is air. You can fall through air. We'll ignore the effects of the air for a moment (I'll come back to that at the end), and focus on momentum and acceleration. As you are no longer in the plane there is no force acting on you any more and you will maintain your velocity without any acceleration - your momentum. Meanwhile, the earth is still accelerating at 9.8m/s
2 due to the UA and the plane is still accelerating at 9.8m/s
2 due to the lift generated by the plane's wings. Let's say that your speed at the time you jump out of the plane is X, after one second the plane's velocity and the earth's velocity will be X+9.8m/s, after two seconds the velocities will be X+19.6m/s and so on.
Now for the air. As the air is accelerating past you it will create drag, the faster it is travelling past you the more drag it is creating. Think about a windy day and how a really strong wind can knock you off your feet where as a little wind will just mess up your hair. The faster the wind is moving past you the more drag is created, that is the more the air accelerates you. Eventually the air will 'accelerate' you at 9.8m/s
2. At this point the difference between your velocity and the earth's velocity will remain the same but because it's taken time to reach this balanced state the earth's velocity is already greater than yours. Let's just say it only took 2 seconds to reach this balance and we'll call your velocity X. The earth's velocity will be X+19.6m/s and as you are both now accelerating at 9.8m/s
2 that difference in velocity will not change and the earth will get closer to you by 19.6 metres every second. In this hypothetical your terminal velocity would be 19.6m/s.