Hydrogen bonds are defined as attractive forces between an electronegative atom and a hydrogen atom covalently bonded to another electronegative atom. In the case of hydrochloric acid (HCl), while chlorine is electronegative, its large atomic size prevents it from forming significant hydrogen bonds with hydrogen atoms. Instead, the interaction between H and Cl is more covalent due to the inability of Cl to approach hydrogen closely enough to create a strong dipole.
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