among the embodiments of the micro - pump herein described , the first includes an array containing a plurality of conductive elements . a plate covers the array and a controller supplies and controls current to the conductive elements in the array . in this embodiment , the plate can be , and preferably is , a photopolymer . moreover , if a photopolymer is used , it is preferable to use a thin - film photopolymer having a sub - millimeter thickness . the conductive elements can have a current individually and sequentially applied therethrough or shut - off thereto by the controller . in addition , the controller operates to temporarily apply current to substantially all of the conductive elements in the array thereby enabling a fluid disposed on the plate to be separated into positively and negatively charged fluid molecules . following this separation , the controller applies a current sequentially through selective of the conductive elements and shuts - off current thereto in a predetermined order to define a fluid flow path . a fluid disposed on the plate and separated into positively and negatively charged molecules is forced to move along the fluid flow path by a moving electromagnetic field generated by the application of current and shutting - off of current to the selective of the conductive elements . moreover , the fluid follows the direction of the moving electromagnetic field .