Hot plates are used for heating samples and are used as an alternative to a Bunsen burner when an open flame would be dangerous. Hot plate stirrers are used to mix samples, with or without the application of heat.
Laboratory homogenizers are high-speed, high-shear mixers that reduce samples to uniformed-sized molecules through maceration, cutting, and blending. They are used to process liquids, slurries, or granular substances.