<p>I'm interested in issues related to Global warming and therefore started to read about it from this website -->> <a href="http://www.nmsea.org/Curriculum/Primer/Global_Warming/fossil_fuels_and_global_warming.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">link</a></p>

<p><br>
As I was reading I got stuck in the third paragraph of <code>What are Greenhouse gas ?</code> section. It says <br></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Secondly,  CO2 tends to remain in the atmosphere for a very long time (time scales in the hundreds of years). Water vapor, on the other hand, can easily condense or evaporate, depending on local conditions. Water vapor levels therefore tend to adjust quickly to the prevailing conditions, such that the energy flows from the Sun and re-radiation from the Earth achieve a balance. CO2 tends to remain fairly constant and therefore behave as a controlling factor, rather than a reacting factor. More CO2 means that the balance occurs at higher temperatures and water vapor levels. 
  <br></p>
</blockquote>

<p>I do not understand the whole paragraph and also specially the controlling and reacting factor.
Please help .Thankyou in advance. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-05T10:42:09.047Z
You may get a better response at [earthscience.se], tell me if you would like it to be migrated. I'm not sure if those terms are used extensively in chemistry, personally I have not heard of them before.
orthocresol
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-05T10:53:15.403Z
Yes,Please migrate it to earth science.
Yogesh Tripathi
<terminology><atmospheric-chemistry>
What is meant by controlling and reacting factor?
Yogesh Tripathi
# What is meant by controlling and reacting factor?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-04-05)

I'm interested in issues related to Global warming and therefore started to read about it from this website -->> [link](http://www.nmsea.org/Curriculum/Primer/Global_Warming/fossil_fuels_and_global_warming.htm)

As I was reading I got stuck in the third paragraph of `What are Greenhouse gas ?` section. It says

> Secondly, CO2 tends to remain in the atmosphere for a very long time (time scales in the hundreds of years). Water vapor, on the other hand, can easily condense or evaporate, depending on local conditions. Water vapor levels therefore tend to adjust quickly to the prevailing conditions, such that the energy flows from the Sun and re-radiation from the Earth achieve a balance. CO2 tends to remain fairly constant and therefore behave as a controlling factor, rather than a reacting factor. More CO2 means that the balance occurs at higher temperatures and water vapor levels.

I do not understand the whole paragraph and also specially the controlling and reacting factor.
Please help .Thankyou in advance.

**Tags:** terminology, atmospheric-chemistry

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You may get a better response at [earthscience.se], tell me if you would like it to be migrated. I'm not sure if those terms are used extensively in chemistry, personally I have not heard of them before.  
> **username_0**: Yes,Please migrate it to earth science.  

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## 0 answers

