# Instructor guide: Reaction-network yield and facility-gain ledger

Course: Advanced nuclear and lattice-assisted reactions

Suggested time: 75–95 minutes

## Learning target

Learners connect reaction-network physics to calibrated multi-channel detection and separate reaction evidence, mechanism, heat, and engineering gain.

## Prepare

- Review cross-section and areal-density units.
- Define every network branch and detector efficiency.
- Prepare one calorimetric/product inconsistency case.

## Facilitation moves

- Trace nuclei before energy claims.
- Keep screening, acceptance, and efficiency in separate columns.
- Require independent channel closure and facility power accounting.

## Misconception checks

- **Excess heat alone identifies a nuclear pathway.** Mechanism requires products, branching, kinematics, calibration, backgrounds, and energy consistency.
- **Positive Q value guarantees net useful power.** Reaction probability, beam/driver input, capture, thermal conversion, and facility loads determine gain.

## Accessibility and participation

- Use a channel-flow diagram with numeric labels.
- Translate cross sections into interaction probabilities.
- Provide a separate reaction and facility ledger.

## Evidence of learning

- A closed reaction network
- A detector-calibrated yield
- A reaction-versus-facility-gain distinction

## Extension

Add a competing background channel and design two orthogonal detectors that identify branching without double counting.

## Evidence boundary

Assess the learner's reasoning only within the declared model and recorded observations. Do not upgrade a simulation result into a claim about an unmodeled physical system.