Transcript: The physical state inside a white dwarf is extraordinary. The density is in the range of 108 to 1011 kilograms per cubic meter. A teaspoon of white dwarf material brought back to the Earth would weigh as much as an elephant. At these densities and temperatures electrons move nearly at the speed of light, and matter no longer behaves as a perfect gas. In fact, it’s a new state of matter called degenerate matter. The atomic nuclei essentially form a lattice with the relativistic electrons moving between them. It’s as if the star were a huge diamond given that so many of the heavy nuclei are carbon atoms. The quantum theory says that no two particles can have exactly the same set of properties, and this limitation acts as a pressure, called degeneracy pressure, that keeps the matter supported. And this is the reason that the star does not further collapse. White dwarfs are truly extraordinary items essentially with the density of an atomic nuclei but with an atomic number of 1057.