The interpretation of the effect of climbing up electrodes of the dielectric liquids in stationary fields (the Sumoto effect)

An attempt is made to assess quantitatively the dielectrophoretic force in liquids under the action of a nonuniform electric field. Applying 3 kV dc to two partly immersed electrodes of 0.13 mm radius, 1.3 cm apart, acetone would be pulled up to a height of 7.2 cm at the electrodes, if this phenomenon could be ascribed to dielectrophoretic force only.