Why does hydrochloric acid have a higher boiling point than diatomic fluorine?

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Why does hydrochloric acid have a higher boiling point than diatomic fluorine?

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Answer 1 · 2017-08-11T08:00:50

Well, consider the intermolecular forces that operate within each substance......

Explanation:

Hydrogen chloride, is a room temperature gas. Its normal boiling point is $-85$ $""^@C$ . Fluorine is a diatomic molecule, whose normal boiling point is $-188$ $""^@C$ . Note that $HCl$ is water soluble to the tune of $10-11*mol*L^-1$ , and in this solution ionization occurs to give hydrochloric acid:

$HCl(g) stackrel(H_2O)rarrH_3O^+ + Cl^-$

Why the disparity in boiling point? Well hydrogen chloride is a larger, more diffuse, molecule, that has more opportunity for a dispersion forces. However, the principle intermolecular force that operates between hydrogen chloride molecules is hydrogen bonding; i.e. $""^(delta+)H-Cl^(delta-)$ . The dipoles line up in the bulk phase, and this constitutes a potent intermolecular force......hence the respective boiling points.

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Why does hydrochloric acid have a higher boiling point than diatomic fluorine?

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