  We investigated travelling waves appearing as the primary pattern-forming
instability in the nematic Phase 5 (Merck) in the planar geometry in order to
test the recently developed weak electrolyte model of ac-driven
electroconvection [M. Treiber and L. Kramer, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst 261, 311
(1995)]. Travelling waves are observed over the full conductive range of
applied frequencies for three cells of different layer thickness d. We also
measured the elastic constants, the electric conductivity, and the dielectric
constant. The other parameters of Phase 5 are known, apart from the (relatively
unimportant) viscosity $\alpha_1$ and the two parameters of the weak
electrolyte model that are proportional to the geometric mean of the
mobilities, and the recombination rate, respectively. Assuming a sufficiently
small recombination rate, the predicted dependence of the frequency of the
travelling waves at onset (Hopf frequency) on d and on the applied frequency
agreed quantitatively with the experiments, essentially without fit parameters.
The absolute value of the Hopf frequency implies that the geometric mean of the
mobilities amounts to $1.1 \times 10^{-10} m^2/(Vs)$.
