Why is citric acid so sour despite it being apparently a weak acid?
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It’s a “weak acid” in the chemistry sense – meaning that it doesn’t fully dissociate (into H+ ions and its conjugate base) in an aqueous solution. A fruit or juice high in citric acid can still have a pretty low pH with respect to what your body can handle. Drinking a strong acid like sulfuric would burn your digestive tract, unless it’s a very dilute solution.
Also, our sour taste buds aren’t really tasting the pH. How tart something tastes has more to do with its “titratable acidity” – which is basically a measurement of how many individual acid molecules there are, regardless of their dissociation state.
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