Home > Community > Why, even though hydrochloric acid boils at -85 °C, is it physically liquid at room temperature?
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Mattie Bush

Why, even though hydrochloric acid boils at -85 °C, is it physically liquid at room temperature?

Andrea McCurdy  Follow

Hydrochloric acid does not boil at -85′C. Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water. Hydrogen chloride, in the absence of water, is a gas at room temperature. I did not look it up, but my guess is that -85′C is the boiling point of the pure hydrogen chloride. The formulas are properly written with an indication of the state. HCl (g) is the gas and HCl ( aq) is the gas dissolved in water to give an aqueous solution.

I have seen students make the same mistake about aqueous solutions of ionic compounds. The solution is a mixture that has the compound dissolved in water. Usually there is an (aq) written after the formula. It is NOT the ““liquid form” of the compound.

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Darko Savic  Follow

number of things that need proper wording :

Hydrochloric acid does not boil at - 85°C .

A compound , hydrogen chloride , with chemical formula HCl , is a liquid that boils at -85°C . Therefore at normal temperature conditions hydrogen chloride is a gas

If this gas is dissolved in water a solution results that is called hydrochloric acid - this also has the chemical formula HCl .

This liquid hydrochloric acid can be made with a concentration of 38% m/m. It has a boiling point of 48°C and a freezing point of -26°C

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