Why do white dwarves have higher temperature than sun, red giants, and supergiants?

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  1. Alpha-Omega's Avatar
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    • Location: Atlantis
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    Why do white dwarves have higher temperature than sun, red giants, and supergiants?
    What is it about them that results to having very high temperature?
  2. Yorrap's Avatar
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    • Posts: 330
    Re: Why do white dwarves have higher temperature than sun, red giants, and supergiant
    The (hot) core of a low mass star becomes a white dwarf and surface temperatures range from 10 000 K to 20 000 K.
  3. radenoactive's Avatar
    • Junior Member
    • Posts: 28
    Re: Why do white dwarves have higher temperature than sun, red giants, and supergiant
    It's related to it's massive density.
  4. umop apisdn's Avatar
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    • Location: Antarctica
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    Re: Why do white dwarves have higher temperature than sun, red giants, and supergiant
    I thought this was going to be the lead-up to some awful racist joke. So I clicked the thread title.
  5. willbee's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Posts: 1,121
    Re: Why do white dwarves have higher temperature than sun, red giants, and supergiant
    Because they're sick of being so short?

    I dunno.
  6. Antimony's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Posts: 81
    Re: Why do white dwarves have higher temperature than sun, red giants, and supergiant
    I'm not 100% sure but I think it's because as the star contracts the P.E of the particle's decreases and their K.E increases, since K.E is proportional to T, the temp rises. The reason the temperature is sooo high is because there is a huge collapse as a star becomes a white dwarf hence there is a huge decrease in P.E of the particles hence a huge increase in K.E and also temperature.
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