Can someone explain exactly what a bounty does on a main site question? I've read a lot about it. But nothing tells me exactly what it does and what it is used for. Some of the answers I'm finding are contradicting and not clear. Which has me confused.

@ScientistSmithYT Is there a part that seems particularly confusing? In general, a user can assign some rep as a bounty to encourage people to answer a question

Maybe the bounty is because an existing answer is awesome, or because there are no answers, or the existing answers are somehow lacking and a new one would be good

And at the end of the bounty period, the person who posted it can assign the answer that merits the extra rep bonus

@tpg2114 The confusing part is what it is used for and why it is used.

It's a way for somebody to reward somebody else for going above and beyond, or for somebody to draw attention to something they are interested in for one reason or another

What gets rewarded? Who gets the reward? Why is it used? Those are some of the main questions I have.

The person offering the bounty agrees to give away a chunk of reputation points

For a variety of reasons -- there was a good answer that didn't get enough credit, or the question is good but never got attention, or the answers are lacking in some way and they want to get different answers

Ok. So lets say I give a bounty on a question of 300. And people give me great answers. But one person gives an exceptionally great answer. Do I get to choose who I give it to?

Yup

And you will lose 300 rep, and the person who you give it to will get +300

Oh ok! Got it! :)

That clears up every question I have. I just am putting a question together that I've searched the answer to for years. And I need the answer soon. So I'm thinking about bounty.

You also don't have to do it for your questions

You can put it on other peoples' questions. If you're feeling charitable

Emilio does that quite a bit

How does that work?

Same way as on your own question

The person offering it gets to pick the amount, why they want to offer it, and then decide who gets it

Oh ok. I've just always seen the bounty button and wondered what it was. How does the collection of bounty work? Is it automatic?

Yup, once assigned, the person who got it will see a nice +<chunk> in the header

If you don't assign it manually within 24 hours of it ending, the system will assign it automatically. Check out the end of the Bounty help page for how that happens if you are interested

Ok Thank you. I'll check it out. :)

But just know -- there's no going back. Once offered, you lose that rep and it doesn't come back. So if there's no answers in that time or they are all negative scored or something, you just lose that rep you put on bounty

Ok

I want to ask my question with no chance of getting a down vote, or negative rep.

Formatted, or formulated... heh

Well there's no guarantee on that. Negative votes just happen, gotta roll with them

Formulated. Haha :) sorry.

But so long as it is clear what you are asking about, clear what assumptions are involved, and it doesn't violate our policies on homework or resources or engineering or whatever else, then it shouldn't get downvoted much. If it's not interesting, it will just end up ignored probably

Since you are asking about a bounty because you need the answer quickly, I suspect it will look a lot like a homework-and-exercises question and that would be a bad thing if you are trying to avoid down votes

Yeah. But its a problem that seems easy to solve. But when I say the things I've tried, I'm afraid some will down vote it because they think its impossible or because of the excuse of "that's not how it works". But I'm planning on telling then the facts I've collected over multiple years.

Well... that sounds like it's going to be thought of as not mainstream

Which would also be a bad thing

Well, my question has to do with why the transformer values I'm getting with my working and properly functioning equipment are no where close to the calculated values using formulas.

Like I would expect the values to at least be within 100 of each other. But I'm getting values greater than that.

That could be reasonable. I'm just going to guess that it will boil down to assumptions in the formulas vs reality

Yeah. So I guess you see my problem.

Yes, but that's not what this is. With formulas V.S reality there is going to be an inaccuracy. But then there is a fine line where something goes beyond that margin of error.

I guess it depends, if two numbers are different by 100 but their magnitude is 1e9, then it's not a problem. But if it's different by 100 and their magnitude is 200, well, then it's bad

I'll give an example

That's not true -- if I apply a formula that assumes X, but reality is Y, then it will be way outside the margin of error

Formula says the transformer uses 12 amps. But it uses 30 amps when measured. Obviously those are very different.

So this sounds a lot like an engineering question, not a physics one. I think anyway. Would Electrical Engineering be able to help you more?

That's the type pf problem I'm trying to solve. The EE.SE chat has told me my equipment isnt working properly or that I'm wrong. Or that That's not How it works. But my equipment is working properly, and the values I get are correct.

I tried, but they pushed it away like I'm completely wrong.

So let me give an example of the type of problem I'm dealing with, but in physics terms.

That's probably going to happen here too. Unless it is phrased in terms of assumptions in the formula vs what really happens

We all know the speed of light is around 186,000 miles per second. And that's a set variable once it reached it max speed. But say scientist measured the speed of light through a vacumme to be 200,000 miles per second. No one would believe you, and you've checked the living crap out of your equipment and nothing is wrong with it. So the number it gives you is correct.

So then you check everything countless times, have sleepless nights to figure it out. But no answer as to why that speed was possible. But all you know is it is for some reason.

Without seeing the exact question, I can't say for sure -- but it sounds like this won't go over well on the site

That was me, but with my transformers. Sleepless nights, long days going through everything to figure it out. Hiring electrical engineers and electricians just to tell me that my equipment is working properly. And the values I am getting are correct.

Yes, and I know that. But no one else knows why or can tell me why it works.

I know it won't go over well on the main site, but I don't have a better solution in mind to find the answer. It's something that not just me has a problem solving.

I am preparing my information very soon. And I'll put it in a Google doc and take a screenshot of it and send it to you so you can help me out with it.

I don't have the bandwidth to really help write a question at the moment

I'm trying to write 2 papers, among everything else going on :)

And revise 2 others. Forgot about those...

Oh, wow. So you're keeping busy. :)

:)

Dont worry about writing a question. I'll write it then take a screenshot, send it to you on here and ping you in it. So you see it.

What are you writting about?

First paper is on characterizing the thermochemical states of a reacting, turbulent mixing layer under conditions similar to what we are studying in experiments/simulations. The second is related, and comparing simulations of our experiments to simulations of new conditions that are more like the device we are interested in. Trying to connect from the easier experiments to the full engines we actually care about

And I got reviews on 2 papers back that I need to revise and respond to, one is on uncertainty quantification in turbulent large-eddy simulations. The other is on new vortical structures behind a flame holder that have not been reported before