Meaning & use
evaporating dish used for
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Meanings
phrasefixed phrasechemistrytechnical
asks what job a shallow ceramic lab dish does, especially heating a liquid so that it turns to vapor.
Grammar: Used as a heading or question; the full question form is 'What is an evaporating dish used for?'
Patterns
- an evaporating dish is used for something
- an evaporating dish is used for doing something
- what is an evaporating dish used for?
The teacher wrote 'evaporating dish used for' on the board and asked us to explain it.
If you search 'evaporating dish used for', you will find pages about heating solutions in a lab.
Her notes began with the heading 'Evaporating dish used for' and then listed three laboratory jobs.
phrasefixed phrasechemistrytechnical
describes the main laboratory jobs of this dish: heating a solution to drive off liquid and leave a solid behind.
Grammar: Often followed by a gerund or a noun when you list its purposes: 'used for evaporating solutions'.
Patterns
- used for evaporating a solution
- used for drying a solid
- used for concentrating a liquid
An evaporating dish is used for evaporating a solution until crystals start to appear.
In school chemistry, the dish is used for drying a small amount of solid after filtering.
The dish is used for concentrating a liquid sample before the next test.
Common combinations
- heat something in an evaporating dish
- Heat the salt solution in an evaporating dish over a water bath.
- an evaporating dish of solution
- She placed an evaporating dish of copper sulfate solution on the bench.
- leave something in an evaporating dish
- Leave the filtrate in an evaporating dish overnight so the water slowly leaves.
- a clean evaporating dish
- Always weigh a clean, dry evaporating dish before you start.
- evaporating dish and watch glass
- The kit contains an evaporating dish and a watch glass for covering it.
Synonyms and how they differ
- evaporating basin
- A British name for much the same shallow dish; 'evaporating dish' is the more common term in American textbooks.
- crystallizing dish
- Similar equipment, but it is usually wider and is chosen when you want crystals to form slowly.
- crucible
- Also used for strong heating, but a crucible is deeper and is made for very high temperatures, not for evaporating large amounts of liquid.
Word family
- evaporate verb
- to change from a liquid into a gas, or to make a liquid do this by heating.
- evaporation noun
- the process in which a liquid slowly changes into a gas.
- evaporating adjective
- describing equipment or a process that involves evaporation, as in 'evaporating dish'.
Commonly confused: evaporating dish used for or evaporating flask? evaporating dish used for or Petri dish?
evaporating dish used for vs evaporating flask
A flask is a rounded or conical container with a narrow neck, while a dish is shallow and open; a flask is used when you need to collect or reflux vapor.
evaporating dish used for vs Petri dish
A Petri dish is a shallow flat dish used in biology to grow microorganisms, not for heating liquids.
Practice
A student wants to obtain solid salt from salty water. Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Used for' is followed by an -ing form, and evaporating the water is exactly what the dish does. Option 0 and 3 use the base verb after 'for', which is wrong grammar here, and option 2 describes a thermometer, not a dish.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evaporating dish used for”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.