[ccp4bb] Overall forces in crystals?

[Frank von Delft]

Hi,

I don't remember ever seeing any references to this, and am also not 
quite sure where to start looking -- but the BB readership tends to 
dredge up this sort of thing:

Has anybody published (or just done) estimates of the magnitude of the 
forces that hold a crystal together?  E.g. how hard would I need to poke 
it with a pointed stick to make a hole in it?  (Or conversely, how 
pointed would the stick need to be.)

(I thought Alex McPherson's AFM papers might point me there, but they 
only say what nominal forces they used, not what forces demolished the 
crystals.)

Cheers
phx