for a volume V , where E s u r f a c e is the surface energy, E s t r a i n is the disclination strain energy to close the gap (or overlap for marcasite and others), and E s u r f a c e s t r e s s is a coupling term for the effect of the strain on the surface energy via the surface stress, which can be a significant contribution. The sum of these three terms is compared to the total surface energy of a single crystal (which has no strain), and to similar terms for an icosahedral particle. Because the decahedral particles have a lower total surface energy than single crystals due (approximately, in fcc) to more low energy {111} surfaces, they are lower in total energy for an intermediate size regime, with the icosahedral particles more stable at very small sizes. (The icosahedral particle have even more {111} surfaces, but also more strain.) At large sizes the strain energy can become very large, so it is energetically favorable to have dislocations and/or a grain boundary instead of a distributed strain. The very large mineral samples are almost certainly trapped in metastable higher energy configurations.