Acidification - it sounds like something a comic book villain would do, right? But it's actually a complex environmental issue, and there's a lot we don't know about it.

The first thing to keep in mind is that not all the bad guys are obvious. Just like in a detective novel, it's not always easy to find the culprit. Here, the villains we're talking about are sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which are major causes of acidification. But here's the plot twist - they're not the only culprits.

Imagine a game of Clue where it's raining outside. You know, naturally, rain is a bit acidic, so it could be partly responsible for some of the damage caused. You might say the rain is our unlikely suspect.

Identifying who's responsible for emissions is a lot like trying to find who stole the last cookie from the jar. Everyone denies it, but the cookie is still gone. In our case, we know that no single industry or country is the only one emitting SO2 and NOx. This means we can't just point a finger and blame someone for the pollution. This is what we call non-point source pollution - it's like the crime was committed by a bunch of people, all over the place, and we can't pin it on a single perp.

Now, just like in every good story, we also have some heroes. Car owners with catalytic converters have managed to reduce emissions of NOx. These converters are like environmental superheroes, using their powers (a.k.a. chemical reactions) to transform harmful pollutants into less harmful substances.