What Are White Dwarf Stars?

White dwarfs are a type of stellar corpse, the mass left over when fusion stops in a star. They would collapse on themselves under gravity if it wasn't for quantum mechanics, the Pauli exclusion principle, and electron degeneracy pressure. Here's how they work.
________________________________
VIDEO ANNOTATIONS/CARDS
What are Black Holes?
• Basic FAQs about Black...
Nuclear Fusion Explained:
• Nuclear Fusion Explained
Crookes Radiometer:
• How Does The Crookes R...
Periodic Table Explained:
• Why does the Periodic ...
________________________________
RELATED KZbin VIDEOS
Kurz Gesagt on White Dwarfs:
• The Last Light Before ...
Crash Course on White Dwarfs:
• White Dwarfs & Planeta...
Socratica on White Dwarfs:
• What are white dwarfs?...
________________________________
HUGE THANK YOU TO THESE PATRONS
** Clint Cloys, Rick Finn, Nikko Lai, Evgeny, Preston From, Christian McCracken **
________________________________
SUPPORT THE SCIENCE ASYLUM
Patreon:
/ scienceasylum
Advanced Theoretical Physics (eBook):
gumroad.com/l/ubSc
Merchandise:
shop.spreadshirt.com/scienceas...
________________________________
OTHER SOURCES
Chandrasekhar 1931 Papers:
adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1931ApJ...
adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1994JAp...
Red Dwarf Stats:
www.astrobio.net/alien-life/re...
________________________________
LINKS TO COMMENTS
qbslug - Featured Comment:
• Why does the Periodic ...
________________________________
IMAGE CREDITS
NASA Big Bang Animation:
• NASA | The Big Bang
Sirius A and B:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Chandrasekhar:
chandra.harvard.edu/resources/...
Seven Dwarfs:
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/...

[@drew8443]

The Science Guy + Vsauce = Nick Lucid This channel is amazing and you deserve more subs (like 1 million)

[@ScienceAsylum]

Thanks!

[@ChallengeTheNarrative]

@@ScienceAsylum SCILUM see what I did there? 😃

[@anmolmehrotra923]

@@ChallengeTheNarrative xd

[@443MoneyTrees]

Nah vsauce is too crazy

[@infctrinfctr]

The Chandrasekar Limit part with airhorns is the best

[@denissavgir2881]

LMAO YES

[@adamqazsedc]

IKR

[@Fylnnn]

He wants to make his indian viewer feels proud, i mean overproud

[@vinjetho1609]

@@denissavgir2881 bc

[@akilghosh]

I watched the entire KZbin ad for this guy.

[@YTEdy]

Do that ten times and he'll make a penny. ;-)

[@jkotroba485]

Keep up the good work Nick. You have great comedic timing and the production value is top notch. I am very pleased that you've been uploading content much more regularly. What would happen if 2 white dwarves colided? Would there be enough mass and energy to go supernova?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Not a supernova... but probably a small flash nova before they just combine to form one object.

[@itsokaytobecurious5367]

J Kot they’ll generate gravitational waves...

[@erikpeterson4590]

I just want to say, this is a wonderful channel that doesn't get the attention it deserves. Nick, you're awesome.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Thanks!

[@VladGoro25]

THE ONLY VIDEO ON THE KZbin that explains DIFFERENT TYPES of dwarfs caused by different CORE that stars left depend of their mass.

[@zohaibzohaib526]

it keeps coming in my mind while watching your videos, why dont you have more then 1 million subscribers. you deserve it .

[@riturajphukan632]

The most informative video I found about white dwarfs ... yet... Keep it up.

[@cauchyhorizon5983]

Well, the closest white dwarf to the Solar system is Sirius B, at only 8.6 lightyears away. If we figure out interstellar travel within the next century, we could eventually see a white dwarf up close.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Coincidentally, Sirius B is the one I showed at 1:07

[@Bodyknock]

If Project Starshot pans out we could send very small lightsail probes there this century followed by about a sixty year voyage.

[@cauchyhorizon5983]

Yes, I noticed. It's one of my favorite astronomical pictures

[@cauchyhorizon5983]

Precisely

[@virtualuniverse4861]

I think by the time we are advanced enough to build Dyson spheres around other stars, we will be advanced enough to colonize the star itself, surface and interior. Devices able to hold digitized consciousness, build of local material. Star stuff alive while still in the star. White dwarfs and even neutron stars will be explored this way. Maybe some day we will even colonize black holes... though it would be one way?? : P

[@mcmayo9161]

I have learned a lot from your channel, and it’s very rare that I learn a lot! Your channel is amazing!

[@kaseyfranken5976]

I love the content, and how it is expressed with some funny quirkiness added in. So well done I have to really say you do a good job!!!

[@ScienceAsylum]

Thanks!

[@ksrucin]

Thumbs up. I like the recent emphasis on cosmology and astronomy and as always, superb delivery and production.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Astrophysics is my thing.

[@dwayneduval6785]

And astrophysics is the best thing. So get to it. "Fast fast"

[@riteshshinde3092]

Even though its quite complex you make it really fun chandler thank you so much😊😊

[@oare555]

Thank you for being an inspirational force and a motivational source!!!

[@matthewalexander9277]

You remind me so much of my favorite science television host as a child - Beakman, from Beakman's World. While everyone else was watching Bill Nye, I found Beakman to teach his lessons in a far more physically "real" and entertaining matter; that's exactly what you do, but on a considerably more advanced level. Just remember, while Bill Nye had a larger audience and a bigger name...there were plenty of other children who were more influenced by those like Beakman. Never think that your channel matters any less just because of your relative subscriber count; the subscribers you do have are clearly getting something that the bigger channels aren't delivering to them.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Thank you for this comment :-)

[@oddgumshoethelocalatlas2385]

Ahh binge watching till work nerd clone is awesome

[@pcalculas]

hey nick lucid...i just buy..downloaded and started reading yur book...we have to appreciate yur work dear...i will tell yu once i finished it..have a nice day

[@liviustanciu7550]

Altho i've seen about a Googolplex 👻 of videos and other stuff about neutron stars and magnetars, would like to see one from you aswell.It's pretty fun to talk about those crazy objects 🤓🤓 Great Job BTW!!

[@ScienceAsylum]

Neutron star video is going up today.

[@anhi399]

Imma wind up leaving a comment on every video of yours but man o man do I love your presentations. It's absolutely wonderful, in the most literal sense of the word, to learn something new every time I watch one of your vids. And it's not like I just learn a knew factoid either; I come to a better understanding than I previously held. Thank you so much!

[@ScienceAsylum]

You're very welcome :-)

[@modolief]

Ingenious, thank you!!

[@ScienceAsylum]

You're welcome.

[@cn5821]

Well done sir

[@petslittleworld]

That was a superb video, now I am eagerly waiting for the video on neutron star.

[@ScienceAsylum]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZWpoax7e612e68

[@petslittleworld]

The Science Asylum Thank you.

[@hoggif]

Great video that makes me think of how/why can proton and electron combine. Something weird about a fundamental particle "dissapearing". That could make a great subject for a future video.

[@ScienceAsylum]

It's energy is transferred to another quantum field (or a combination of fields): kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2iklGuwgLl3Y6c

[@jorgepeterbarton]

Really the electron flips a quark i believe, but maybe its simple any particles together will combine....its just they are not usually together with strong force keeping them apart.

[@user-uu7sk8bz5l]

Wonderful Sir

[@user-uu7sk8bz5l]

Thank You Sir

[@BatMandor]

You should try some ways to get a wider audience, this channel seems amazing

[@michaelcheverie7579]

Love the Chandrasekhar radius blast (audio and graphic)!

[@michaelcheverie7579]

Gotta spell it right!

[@douglaspiper2480]

Goddamn, why have i not discovered this channel earlier

[@gurumage9555]

I know right, time to binge watch.

[@blackcat5771]

@@gurumage9555 gg

[@ytashu33]

Super like!! Been looking everywhere for some discussion of the limits of Pauli's exclusion principle (literally for years), FINALLY, found it here. THANKS NICK!! But, was hoping to also understand exactly where is the energy for the light emitted by the white dwarf coming from? I mean, there is no fusion happening anymore, right? A hint maybe?

[@ytashu33]

Hmmm... re-watching the video, i do think you answer that question. The light being emitted is just black body radiation, because the dwarf is hot from its creation time. I suppose that makes sense.... But a new question... Tell us more about different types of "white dwarfs", why are larger ones mostly carbon, some mix and smaller ones just Helium?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Yes, you answered your own question there about the black body radiation. It emits light in the same way an incandescent light bulb does. Just because it's hot. What the white dwarfs are made of depends on the stars they form from. Smaller stars (like red dwarfs) don't have enough gravity to make carbon, so they're mostly helium when they run out of hydrogen... and then that's the end of the line. No carbon gets made, so the white dwarf that's left over can't have any.

[@sarahwilson6192]

@@ScienceAsylum has always

[@rabisingh5532]

Nice vedio nick

[@ScienceAsylum]

Thanks!

[@borgholable]

this is the only channel where i learn so much and laugh my ass off at the same time

[@TheAstrospace2]

Do you have a video about spin of particles? I've heard many explanations but I still can't wrap my head around what spin exactly is. Thank you c:

[@ScienceAsylum]

I talk about it a little here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGWTmGCiqteafqs ...but I'll be getting back to it soon.

[@jessiehermit9503]

I'd like to see one up close. 😀

[@flamingpaper7751]

Great video, but you should have at least mentioned that black dwarfs don't (currently) exist and are just hypothetical at the moment. There won't be any black dwarfs for trillions more years, if they exist at all.

[@ScienceAsylum]

I cut several things from the video because they messed with the flow. It's how it goes sometimes.

[@SSMLivingPictures]

Oh, you wrote a book ( Im playing catch up obviously) Thats cool!

[@AvihooI]

I like how he shows those papers with the equations for like 3 seconds. "Ohhhh now I get it... after taking a glimpse at the paper". These things take at least 5 years of foundational physics to understand and then months to understand a specific phenomenon.

[@RickClark58]

Interesting. A white dwarf star isn't something I have really looked at before. Looking forward to the neutron star. I always think of Larry Niven's story when I think of neutron stars. So you snuck in a vid I missed did you? Haha. I need to check out that Periodic Table vid I missed somehow.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Didn't show up in your sub box?

[@RickClark58]

The Science Asylum It was there I just missed it. Btw, been reading your book. Really enjoying it so far.

[@abcdef2069]

at 5:01 the notion of inverse beta decay ( electron capture) was more like from the low energy nuclear physics books from around 1950's and 1960's. if both p-> n and n->p processes are exothermic, both n and p will keep trading electrons till the energy will run away to infinity. p -> n is an endothermic decay, which means it depends on the initial energy you put into. you can make a proton decay to 1 bilion particles if you wish. in other words, p -> n will never happen in an isolated system

[@pipertripp]

Hey Nick, maybe do a deep dive on degenerate gases at some point or too esoteric?

[@MichaelAnthonyStiber]

So when the electrons are flowing through the entire star as if it is one box, does that imply the white dwarf is acting as a superconductor? Speaking of which, it would be cool to see you do a video on superconductors Nick!

[@Peter_Riis_DK]

Good question - I would like to hear the answer too.

[@jwrosenbury]

My understanding is that superconductivity occurs when two electrons get so close that they act as a single spin 0 particle rather than two spin +-1/2 particles (Cooper pair). Spin zero particles are Bosons, not Fermions. They do not follow the Pauli exclusion principle. As such, there can be many of them in the same place. (.i.e. occupying the same quantum state including position.) Since electrons repel each other, it is surprising that cooper pairs can form, but at very low energy levels they are both shielded by and attracted to nearby protons. The Cooper pair creates a larger energy gap at the higher energy levels of the atom by occupying the zero energy level (presumably at the same time as non-paired electrons) and eliminates the electron sea that metals exhibit since they aren't in the higher state anymore. The paired electrons are still free to move, but the small energy variations in the electron sea go away. These small variations are what drains energy in normal electric flow (into vibrational motion, a.k.a. heat), leading to resistance. In a white dwarf, the opposite presumably occurs. Large groups of nuclei are close together with lots of electrons close together in a hot environment. This leads to many electrons in an electron sea where they can transfer small amounts of energy into vibrational motion. However, perhaps the close nature of the nuclei allows something similar to Cooper pairs to form at higher temperatures than near absolute zero.. (It would be hard to study I think. White dwarves aren't an ideal lab environment.)

[@50rri50]

well, i think i would easily die due to the gravity gradient near the surface of a white star so.... i'll stay with the telescope!

[@samarthsai9530]

I WANT YOUR BOOK. REALLY. REALLY.

[@osbyrne]

Neat

[@SvenSchumacher]

Oh, I've seen a lot of white dwarfs up close. Elite Dangerous offers good opportunities for this. But actually, they're boring. Nothing really exciting will happen for many millions and billions of years. And who has enough patience and snacks to watch it as long as the thing gets dark? If at least a few gnomes would stop by, but no! Besides, it's a shame your channel has so few viewers. Many videos don't even have 1000 likes. This one has less than 500 of them and only 8500 views. The videos would have been great at school and are so lovingly and humorously made! I love them!

[@goasthmago6354]

I think, it works kinda differently, the pressure is so high that it forces all electrons to go into the lowest energy level possible since no two fermions, in this case the electrons, cannot occupy the same energy state if they have exactly the same quantum state, each, then a bunch of these electrons must go into a higher level while being "pushed" back to the lowest energy level by the pressure itself so it's some kind of a loop of "up and down" traveling electrons that is causing the pressure also, the more mass a white dwarf has the smaller in siis it is

[@ScienceAsylum]

I really need to do a followup video where I go into more detail. I know so much about white dwarfs and that knowledge is wasted just sitting inside my head.

[@Hisu0]

I'm curious about the general viability of white dwarves. Suppose we have a newly formed 1 solar mass carbon core WD. What will be the habitable zone range? How fast will it shrink and when it's going to get too small to sustain an Earth-like planet? How long it will take for dust to settle so that an Earth-like planet inside the habitable zone won't experience mass extinctions due to planetary bombardment (disregarding time it'll take for a newly captured rocky planet to settle into a stable orbit)? How different it all will be for a 0.1 solar mass helium core WD? Basically, is the WD's habitable zone a good place to live? Better than Sol or worse? Will it last longer? Be safer? If yes, then which kind of WD will be the absolute best and how? I understand it's a lot of questions, but I can't seem to find answers elsewhere, sorry v_v

[@BensLab]

Good luck with your book!

[@ScienceAsylum]

Thanks!

[@sinebar]

Maybe black holes should be classified as particles. Gravity made particles since they seem to be more particle like than just collapsed stars. I'd call them Gravity Made Super Massive Particles or GMSMP's. In fact maybe the universe was a particle with a gargantuan mass that for what ever reason became unstable and Big Banged.

[@Bassotronics]

I wonder what would happen if a black hole tries to swallow a neutron star; I bet the forces will be so great that it would cause a paradox.

[@ScienceAsylum]

No paradox, but it would probably cause gravitational waves: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fp7MgXesr5WKjLc

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

Returning from How hard its to make a black hole video, I'm thinking ... So as white dwarfs becomes heavier, electrons expands in momentum space as it shrinks in position space. This expansion results in reverse beta decay. If same happens for neutrons in neutron star, then what is the reverse-beta decay like process neutrons may go through as neutron star gets heavier?

[@ScienceAsylum]

They would likely crush into some kind of quark "soup" like the one that existed in the early universe.

[@physicshuman9808]

3:17 So it’s like a roaring sea of electrons

[@ScienceAsylum]

Kind of.

[@shpageltheduck6098]

I was thinking to myself "What if there was matter so densely packed together millions and trillions of nuclei were almost one thing and electrons floated around that whole one thing?" It was just a random thought and when I kept thinking I thought it was impossible cuz maybe that much mass with such high density would cause all the particles to crush down into the centre of mass basically creating a neutron star or maybe even a black hole But what you said is pretty much what I was thinking xD

[@ScienceAsylum]

Pretty much.

[@bobblacka918]

There is one aspect of gravity that no one explains. I understand Einstein's theory about gravity being a warping of space-time. And it makes perfect sense that the moon is orbiting the earth because it thinks it is following a straight line, except it is following a straight line in a warped space-time. But what about a stationary object? Why does a weight on the end of a spring pull toward the earth? How can a warped space-time cause a stationary object to have a force on it? Where does the force come from? Is there some sort of gradient of potential energy which permeates the warping of space-time? I would love to see a video which explains this for stationary objects.

[@samarthsai9530]

It's the curvature of space-time PUSHING the towards the earth. I had the same kind of question and I got the answer in a video by Dr. Michio Kaku.

[@rehaankhan1260]

Samarth Sai can you plz share a link to that video!? Thanks!!

[@jonbold]

No, I do not like Einstein's warping of spacetime. Why doesn't light follow the SAME geodesic? Einstein gave us really good math on this subject but he did not explain the quantum nuts and bolts of how it works because he did not understand it either. But there is an explanation. A simple one. What do you mean, stationary? The quarks in your object are moving nearly the speed of light! And there is no force, only an acceleration. Damb good question!!

[@ScienceAsylum]

In space-time, nothing is ever stationary. It may be stationary in space, but not in time. All matter is moving through time and curvature of that _time_ is where most gravity comes from. Ordinary gravity around things like planets is more the result of time curvature than space curvature. If you release a "stationary" object, it falls because that's the path that keeps it going in a straight line in _time_ ...I should do a video on this.

[@bobblacka918]

Yes, please do a video. Thanks.

[@Kombrig_2]

A cubic cm of the WD d-matter is weigh up to 1 ton. I'm suspecting that if we're try to take a tea spoon of it out of WD -- it is gonna explode into a regular matter? Less impressive than neutronium (400 mln to 1 bln tons per cube cm) from ND ...though?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Correct. You still wouldn't want to be anywhere near it when it (suddenly) expanded to normal density.

[@jessiehermit9503]

I have that exact same shirt. 👕

[@pairot01]

So it's just a glowing inert piece of matter? Cool.

[@wasoncethr7565]

In neutron star it is neutron degeneracy pressure.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Indeed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZWpoax7e612e68

[@drkido23]

Stars are nearly perfect spheres. But do white dwarfs maintain the near perfect spherical shape or do they become more like our planet bulging slightly at the equator, more an oblate spheroid??

[@greymouse451]

Are there different types of white dwarfs? For example, a small red star that fuses all its hydrogen and then goes cold veres our own sun that will generate elements heavier than helium? Would these white dwarfs have different properties?

[@ScienceAsylum]

They're made of different types of atoms, but they're all still "degenerate" matter.

[@edwardweinberg2412]

So can I assume that the protons would form a very large nucleus, say a thousand miles across and the electrons would fill in all the states associated with this nucleus. This is a very large system. Would electrons know instantly that a state was occupied or would there be a delay because information could not be transmitted instantly. Maybe the Pauli exclusion principle would behave like entangled particles and this information would be available with no delay.

[@ScienceAsylum]

There is no delay. The state simply wouldn't be available to fall into. Yes, this is a very large system, though I wouldn't say the protons and neutrons for an astronomically scaled nucleus. The density wouldn't be high enough. That honor is reserved for neutron stars: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZWpoax7e612e68

[@doggonemess1]

I don't want to see any star up close. It would be the last thing I ever saw. Or felt. I'd love to see a picture of one.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Probably true.

[@virtualuniverse4861]

I think by the time we are advanced enough to build Dyson spheres around other stars, we will be advanced enough to colonize the star itself, surface and interior. Devices able to hold digitized consciousness, build of local material. Star stuff alive while still in the star. White dwarfs and even neutron stars will be explored this way. Maybe some day we will even colonize black holes... though it would be one way?? : P

[@virtualuniverse4861]

I say 'we' because I expect tech to fast forward to immortality for the healthy humans alive today.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Unfortunately, the gravity would crush our frail human bodies.

[@VijayKumar-xu2pe]

can you explain the dual nature of light and matter?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Sooooooon.

[@wurttmapper2200]

What are they made of? How do they produce light? Are they hot?

[@ScienceAsylum]

They're made of mostly carbon with some helium and some oxygen... and, yes, they're hot. VERY HOT! They emit light just like a lamp does.

[@Peter_Riis_DK]

All free electrons. Does that mean the white dwarf is a superconductor?

[@chrisdoesscience1542]

How large could a gas giant planet get before it's own gravity caused it to collapse, and if it did, what would it form?

[@nunyabisnass1141]

I'd rather know if its possible for a peice of a white dwarf to be stable enough to exist independently of its parent body. Like if a rogue planet collided with enough force to eject some of the white dwarf, and what properties it might retain. But the impacting planet or body might just get ripped apart from tidal forces preventing such a collision. Still I'd like to know.

[@ScienceAsylum]

It would not. If you removed it from the gravity well of the star, the matter would return to a normal state.

[@SSMLivingPictures]

One of these days you need to let Nerd clone school you, instead of just reminding you about what you neglected hahaha

[@scienceandmylife8874]

How did they count no of electron from sample of elements ? Does anyone know?

[@ScienceAsylum]

What do you mean? If the white dwarf is mostly made of Helium, Carbon, and Oxygen (which it is); then we know exactly how many electrons each of those atoms have.

[@AvangionQ]

Up close, hell no ... from a safe distance, sure. 💎

[@saswatsarangi6669]

Don't want to see up close , I'll die due to gravity

[@TheReligiousAtheists]

I didn't know white dwarfs are just as cool as neutron stars (if not cooler)... no one talks about them

[@ScienceAsylum]

They are! And they're actually easier to understand than neutron stars too. Neutrons are weird.

[@professorhasinabanu2199]

3:14 So, white dwarfs are like a giant metal ball? So our Sun will end up being a big metallic disco ball?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Well, I wouldn't say a disco ball. Disco ball only reflect light. White dwarfs make their own light (because they're still very hot).

[@lordpredator8855]

How does the white dwarf emit the thermal energy and how it cools. Can someone please explain this?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Anything with a temperature above absolute zero emits "black body" radiation. It's due to particle/molecule collisions.

[@behrensf84]

So do white dwarfs and neutron stars exist in a spectrum, or is it a tipping point with a clear cut between one and the other?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Stellar corpses are one of the few things in nature that _aren't_ on a spectrum. It's either a white dwarf (electron degeneracy pressure), or a neutron star (neutron degeneracy pressure), or a black hole (no outward pressure). There's no in-between.

[@angelcarriazoventura1270]

what is the calculation needed to know that we should not consider a white dwarf or any object curved space-time?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Huh? Anything with mass (confined energy) curves spacetime, including white dwarfs.

[@angelcarriazoventura1270]

@@ScienceAsylum thanks! I just don't get what you said at 4:01 - 4:14

[@milky_wayan]

I would want to see a white dwarf star up close hopefully it doesn't spaghettify me

[@milky_wayan]

Also, I'd like to comment how friggin good these videos are. If I was an astronomy teacher you'd bet I'd show these to my students.

[@ScienceAsylum]

It probably wouldn't be spaghettified ...but you would likely get crushed if you tried to walk around on it... if you don't vaporize first.

[@wurttmapper2200]

How light has momentum to produce pressure if it has no mass? Extra question: Rest mass produces gravity. Light has no rest mass. How it has gravity?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Light does have mass (because mass and energy are the same thing). It just doesn't have _rest_ mass. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q5bYqIqfh5J3rZY

[@sobertillnoon]

Provided you could withstand the gravity, can you land on a cooled white dwarf? Black dwarf? Also, what is a cooled white dwarf called?

[@ScienceAsylum]

You _can't_ withstand the gravity though.... but to answer your question, yes, the only problem on a black dwarf would be the gravity.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

White dwarfs dont get enough attention out of the star remnants. I think i assume they are just boring hot coals from a small star. But they are pretty interesting.

[@ScienceAsylum]

They're so cool! I did my graduate thesis on them, so I have enough info in my head to fill 10 videos worth.

[@andywolan]

If 2 white dwarf stars collide, do they have enough matter to become a black hole, or does it result in a new star?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Not quite. There would be a bright flash of fusion for a very short time and then one of things could happen depending the white dwarfs: 1) The fusion explosion could just blow the stars to bits leaving nothing behind. 2) Whatever is left over would become a neutron star ...which you can learn about here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZWpoax7e612e68

[@tolkakumar6480]

Do white drawfs become part of other planets or stars? if so what will the compressed matter become? will it lead to higher energy atoms like in neutron stars ?

[@ScienceAsylum]

No, (usually) white dwarf matter stays together and cools off. It eventually becomes a black dwarf and floats through space whole. The stuff that becomes other planets and stars is in the outer layers that get blasted away.

[@tolkakumar6480]

@@ScienceAsylum but what if it undergoes collision ? Or falls into another star ? Or does white dwarfs usually form in the quiter parts of the universe?

[@goasthmago6354]

majority of white dwarfs is inside systems, that means they have almost a compagnion around themselves it can be another white dwarf, star or a planet (or neutron star or even a black hole) white dwarfs love to "eat" a lot, so if a planet or a star is close to a white dwarf then the white dwarf starts taking its mass via roche overflow for itself once the white dwarf has above 1,44 solar masses then it is exploding in a huge thermonuclear blast, so yes they can becoma a part of other stars....as a post explosion nebula, lel

[@protestant6258]

What is pressure?

[@edweinb]

Seems like a large amount of mass in the universe could be degenerate. What percentage of mass in a galaxy would be composed of dwarf stars?

[@ScienceAsylum]

Eventually, yes, that'll be true. However, most of the stars that _will_ become white dwarfs _haven't yet._ Tiny red dwarfs have many billions of years to go before they collapse into white dwarfs.

[@prawnmikus]

Is degenerate matter a superconductor?

[@faizrockafella]

It’s electron capture same look like electron degeneracy in white dwarf ??? I’m need more explanation tq? Who about neutron degeneracy in neutron star until it collapse under gravity and build up black hole ??? Neutron compress with neutron?

[@ScienceAsylum]

What Are Neutron Stars? kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZWpoax7e612e68 What Are Black Holes? kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqmZamaAmpyJfZY

[@Beethoven1111]

Hmm... sounds like I wouldn't really be able to see one up close, ever, considering, you know, I'd be stretched and killed anywhere near one of these! But if you're excluding the "certain death" aspect of getting close... sure, I'm in!

[@MD-vs9ff]

So a white dwarf is just incandescing with its residual warmth?

[@joeldsouza454]

how r the electrons forced to go in higher states...is it creating energy ...which cant b possible....can you explain...?? thankyou

[@ScienceAsylum]

If they can't occupy the same exact states at the same time, the only other states available are of a higher energy.

[@joeldsouza454]

i got that but to get to higher energy dont u requier more energy ?

[@if1613]

is that mean that white dwarf is a giant single element floating around the space?

[@ScienceAsylum]

It's usually some mixture of Helium, Carbon, and Oxygen... so no.

[@joryjones6808]

1:37 What happened to the matter we threw into the sun. Gone reduced to atoms.

[@Lucky10279]

Isn't that the same thing that happens in metals? Electrons flowing through the matter without belonging to any individual atoms?

[@ScienceAsylum]

It does happen in metals a little bit. The outer layers of the electron clouds overlap. It's called a "conduction band." But, in metals, it's only 1-2 electrons per atom that flow through the solid. In a white dwarf, it's _all_ the electrons.

[@Lucky10279]

The Science Asylum Thanks for clarifying!

[@gurumage9555]

That would make for a preety nasty shock. They do shock right?

[@luckybarrel7829]

So what does it have a magnetic field etc like a star does?

[@ScienceAsylum]

White dwarfs _do_ have magnetic fields.

[@luckybarrel7829]

@@ScienceAsylum Yeah, I watched your neutron star video next and that answered the question

[@mrdragon5142]

Science fiction question: Assume an absurdly improbable event in which a wandering, roughly Earth-mass, rocky planet was captured by the gravity of a white dwarf. Assume the resulting orbit is quite close (we're going for the habitable zone - like I said, science fiction). Assuming the planet had spin before capture, how long does it take to become tidally locked?

[@ScienceAsylum]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Timescale TL;DR The equation to calculate that time depends on a couple factors that are _extremely_ difficult to estimate, so it's a big range. Probably somewhere between 10 million and 1 billion years, so you've got some creative freedom there. This is kind of cool actually. I should do a video on this.

[@vincebellisano1347]

If white dwarves has free electrons and it is spinning does it create a magnetic feild.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Yes.

[@fep_ptcp883]

Better name for White Dwarf Stars would be Electron Stars...

[@ScienceAsylum]

Agreed.

[@burningsilicon149]

Wouldn't all those electrons moving at such a high momentum create a enormous magnetic field

[@ScienceAsylum]

Sure, white dwarfs can have a magnetic fields, but I would say it would be "enormous." Stronger than the original star? Yes, probably... but not anything to brag about.

[@burningsilicon149]

The Science Asylum I'm really surprised you answered both of my questions your a really great KZbinrs with great content keep it up

[@john-maryknight2012]

Lucky for us that white dwarfs do not require both quantum mechanics and general relativity.

[@ScienceAsylum]

True... but you can still use them together with white dwarfs if you're careful. I did in my Masters thesis.

[@john-maryknight2012]

The Science Asylum Why is general relativity so hard to combine with quantum mechanics? and why was special relativity so much easier to combine with quantum mechanics? I cannot find any videos on it and Wikipedia uses technical terms I am not familiar with.

[@mastersasori01]

Coincidentally, you just got the same topic as minutephysics on the same day.

[@ScienceAsylum]

Coincidentally, I uploaded first by about 14 hours ;-)

[@BatMandor]

The Science Asylum haha you seem pretty enthusiastic to me, doubting originality would be silly

[@dineshdutt839]

How do we know this stuff for sure?

[@ScienceAsylum]

While we've never seen a white dwarf up close, we have seen them and have measured their spectrum. The rest is what physics tells us about what must be true (and all of that physics has been tested in other situations).