The probability envelope for an electron is called?
1 Answer
I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for. It sounds like you may be looking at the "Two envelopes problem"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_envelopes_problem
If so, this does relate to electrons. Two electrons in a single orbital are indistinguishable, and you cannot tell which one is the spin up and which one is the spin down. All you know is that one is up and the other is down. This situation is "symmetric".
Similarly, in this dilemma, it does not matter which envelope you pick. You can never tell which one is which.
If by "probability envelope" you mean "probability density", then it describes the probability distribution for finding the electron when you look at a particular "window" of the orbital (start with a microscopic dot at the center, and increase the size of the circular window; you'll build the probability density curve that corresponds to the probability distribution in the orbital).
