The outgassing of liquids has been studied under a variety of conditions including the application of a radio-frequency electric field. A large acceleration of the outgassing rate in the electric field was shown to result from convection currents established by the temperature gradient set up by the field. The significance of such a temperature gradient in a comparison of the chemical behavior in such a field with that under normal thermal conditions has been considered. When account was taken of the thermal gradients induced by the field, a field of approximately 2000 volts per cm. and 1.5 megacycles had no measurable effect on the rate of polymerization of styrene in bulk at 80 °C.