ShmoopTube

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[Dino and Coop singing]

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Take away Alvin from Simon and Theodore, and well, you don't really have the Chipmunks do you? [The characters from the Chipmunks film turn into normal chipmunks]

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Cut Snap from Crackle and Pop and that's just plain weird. [Guy looks confused]

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And don't get us started on how bizarre it would be to have Ron and Harry without Hermione. [Hermione is taken away by a dragon]

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They probably would've both been dead by the end of the first book. [Harry and Ron running around scared]

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The truth is, when you have the trio that works, things get a bit strange when you remove one

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piece of the puzzle. [A piece of a jigsaw is taken out and it falls to pieces]

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And the same can be said for the trio involved in the process of photosynthesis.

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So who are the big stars of this trio?

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That'd be carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight.

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Take away carbon dioxide and the whole thing falls apart. [The other components of photosynthesis fall when carbon dioxide is taken away]

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Simply put, plants need to let carbon dioxide into their leaves in order to complete photosynthesis.

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In order to do this, some plants have openings on their leaves that allow air to enter. [Air going into the opening]

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These openings are called “stomata,” which are tiny little structures found on the skin

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or epidermis of a plant.

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They serve to regulate airflow. Think of a stoma like a tiny little mouth on the leaf of

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a plant, which is actually sort of what it looks like. [A mouth drawn on the leaf]

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Okay, they don't look that much like mouths. That would be some kind of creepy, nightmare-fueled beast. [Plant covered in tiny mouths]

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Luckily for us, we can't actually see the stomata. They're pretty tiny. [People screaming at a leaf]

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And they also don't look as nightmareish, so sleep easy tonight, Shmoopers.

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They open and close depending on their environmental conditions. For instance, in desert plants, [Cactus covered in stomata 'mouths']

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stomata only open up at night so that they don't lose too much water under the hot sun

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during the day. Since the regulation of water and carbon dioxide

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is so important to photosynthesis and the life of a plant – the job isn't just left

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up to the stomata.

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That would be a lot of responsibility to handle, and since the stomata can't take a relaxing [The stomata meditating]

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yoga class to unwind, they have special guard cells to help them out. [The smomata is stressed out and sweating]

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These guard cells surround each stomata.

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They're kind of like little muscles that clench up when they want the stomata to be closed and

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relax when it's time to open. Their job is to make sure the stoma is open and closed

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at exactly the right times. [Two guard cells in police costume]

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They're basically a bunch of tough but slightly bone-headed bodyguards that back up every

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single decision the stomata makes. Pretty sweet deal, huh?

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We wouldn't mind a couple of those guys around when we're trying to convince our parents

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to order pizza for dinner… [Guard cell shows up to convince the parents]

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