Levitation by a dipole electric field

The phenomenon of floating can be fascinating in any field, with its presence seen

in art, films, and scientific research. This phenomenon is a captivating and per-

tinent subject with practical applications, such as Penning traps for antimatter

confinement and Ion traps as essential architectures for quantum computing mod-

els. In our project, we reproduced the 1893 water bridge experiment using glycerol

and first observed that lump-like macroscopic dipole moments can undergo near-

periodic oscillations that exhibit floating effects and do not need classical bridge

form. By combining experimental analysis, neural networks, investigation of

Kelvin force generated by the interaction between dipolemoment and electric field,

and exploration of discharging, we gain insights into the mechanisms of motion.

Our discovery has overturned the previous impression of a bridge floating in the water,

leading to a deeper understanding of the new trap mechanism under strong electric fields

with a single pair of electrode.