text: By definition, strain implies discomfiture, so it should follow that molecules with large amounts of transannular strain should have higher energies than those without. Cyclohexane, for the most part, is without strain and is therefore quite stable and low in energy. Rings smaller than cyclohexane, like cyclopropane and cyclobutane, have significant tension caused by small-angle strain, but there is no transannular strain. While there is no small-angle strain present in medium-sized rings, there does exist something called large-angle strain. Some angle and torsional strain is used by rings with more than nine members to relieve some of the distress caused by transannular strain.
  As the plot to the left indicates, the relative energies of cycloalkanes increases as the size of the ring increases, with a peak at cyclononane (with nine members in its ring.) At this point, the flexibility of the rings increases with increasing size; this allows for conformations that can significantly mitigate transannular interactions.