Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Bath for stirrer hot plate

lysander - 19-9-2015 at 06:05

I'm in a committed relationship with my magnetic stirrer hotplate and Florence (flat-bottomed) flasks, but I know I would get better thermal transfer with a mantle or bath. Before I kludge my own solution, are there any standard solutions or containers for setting a bath on a magnetic stirrer hot plate?

(Not that the solution I'm thinking of would be excessively kludgy: One thing I'm thinking of is trying to find an appropriately-sized flat-bottomed dish made of a non-magnetic metal. Then I'd have to insulate its exterior somehow.)

[Edited on 19-9-2015 by lysander]

Deathunter88 - 19-9-2015 at 19:27

I use an evaporating dish with mineral oil.

Oscilllator - 19-9-2015 at 19:46

One thing that can work to get better thermal transfer is to use a "skirt" of Aluminium foil around the bottom of your flask where is meets the hotplate. It traps a gap of air around the base of the flask so you can reach much higher temperatures.
This method can be more convenient than the oil bath method Deathunter posted because it has a much lower thermal inertia, is quicker to set up and does not leave any oily mess behind. The oil bath method may be able to reach higher temperatures, however.