Hydrogen chloride gas easily dissolves in water and the resulting solution is hydrochloric acid. Our stomachs produce hydrochloric acid to digest food.
Hydrochloric acid is an important industrial chemical.
About 3.5 million tons of hydrochloric acid are manufactured for industrial use each year in the United States. It is used to fabricate iron and steel, clean and electroplate metals, etch circuit boards, and make solvents, bleaches, chloride salts, fertilizers, dyes, textiles, and rubber. Trace amounts of chloride are present in coal and oil. When electric utilities burn these fuels in their power plants, chloride is released in very small amounts. Some of this chloride combines with hydrogen to form hydrogen chloride.