system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do plants crack rock and concrete?

How can a plant get enough leverage to break a huge rock or a piece of concrete apart? What's happening on the cellular/molecular level?
gpt
If you think about breaking a rock with a hammer, it's a finite amount energy required all being conveyed at the same time. In the case of a plant, the cells divide on a microscopic level with each division requiring a small amount of energy for the process and expelling a small amount of kinetic energy during mitosis. Once a plant's vine or root starts growing within a crack it not only moves forward into space but also expands as a cylinder along the stalk. Instead of the instant force of a hammer, the plant exerts the same amount of total force over a longer period of time.