Final answer:
The increasing strength of intermolecular forces for HF, HCl, H₂, and F₂ is H₂ < F₂ < HCl < HF, with HF having the strongest intermolecular forces due to hydrogen bonding and H₂ having the weakest due to London dispersion forces.
Step-by-step explanation:
When considering the intermolecular forces of different compounds, we must assess the magnitude of the forces that govern the interactions between molecules. For the compounds provided (HF, HCl, H₂, and F₂), the intermolecular forces range from London dispersion forces (also known as Van der Waals forces) in non-polar molecules to hydrogen bonding in polar molecules with H-F, H-O, or H-N bonds.
The compound hydrogen fluoride (HF) exhibits hydrogen bonding, which is the strongest intermolecular force among the given compounds. On the other hand, hydrogen chloride (HCl) is polar and has dipole-dipole interactions, but it lacks the ability to form hydrogen bonds, making its intermolecular forces weaker than those of HF but stronger than those of non-polar molecules. Hydrogen (H₂) and fluorine (F₂) are non-polar molecules and only exhibit London dispersion forces, which are the weakest intermolecular forces. The strength of London dispersion forces generally increases with the number of electrons and molecular size. F₂ has more electrons and a larger molecular size compared to H₂, so its London dispersion forces are stronger.
The order of increasing strength of intermolecular forces for the given compounds will be hydrogen (H₂) < fluorine (F₂) < hydrogen chloride (HCl) < hydrogen fluoride (HF).