The hot plate stirrer is a classic piece of laboratory equipment, and it’s also among the more commonly used ones due to its numerous applications. Sometimes though, it’s not the perfect tool for the job you need done – for example, if you’re trying to stir a large quantity of liquid, the small capacity of the regular hot plate stirrer can pose some problems.
Thankfully, science prevails and there are plenty of alternatives to make use of – for example, mechanic stirrers are always a good idea when a regular hot plate stirrer can’t suit your needs. They tend to be bulkier and heavier, and they also make a lot more noise in their operation and require maintenance over time, but on the upside you never have to worry about the quantity of liquid you need stirred, as a mechanic stirrer can be as big as you need it.
Still, the hot plate stirrer remains the more useful device for most laboratory needs, due to the simple fact that you rarely need to stir buckets of liquid when performing an experiment – and when you do, the precision of stirring is rarely such a serious issue that you need the power of a hot plate stirrer for it.