= Solution
The molecule with the larger inferred dissociation <energy> is assigned the stronger <hydrogen>–halogen bond: \b[$\mathrm A=\mathrm{HBr}$ and $\mathrm B=\mathrm{HI}$]. Moving from <bromine> to the larger <iodine> atom generally lengthens the bond and reduces effective overlap with the compact <hydrogen> $1s$ orbital, so <hydrogen iodide> is more weakly bound. Independently, the tabulated ground-state harmonic constants near $2649\ \mathrm{cm^{-1}}$ for <hydrogen bromide> and $2309\ \mathrm{cm^{-1}}$ for <hydrogen iodide> agree with the inferred assignment.<Hydrogen bromide: Constants of diatomic molecules by Klaus P. Huber and others>[Ground X 1Sigma+ row, harmonic <wavenumber> 2648.975 cm−1]{ref}<Hydrogen iodide: Constants of diatomic molecules by Klaus P. Huber and others>[Ground X 1Sigma+ row, harmonic <wavenumber> 2309.014 cm−1]{ref} The ordering is the identification criterion; the low-level <Morse oscillator> extrapolations above should not be presented as measured dissociation energies.
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