From A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson:
Atoms, however, go on practically forever. Nobody actually knows how long an atom can survive, but according to Martin Rees it is probably about 10^35 years
Can anybody explain this result to me?
I am told that the original atoms in the universe were likely Hydrogen, condensing out of primordial big bang stuff. Lighter atoms are said to come around as part of the fusion cycles that keep stars running, and heavier ones out fusions that occurs in energetic events like supernovae. We also have radioactive decay to consider. I'm fine with all of these things, but it sounds like Bryson is talking about something altogether different.
I see how you could make a statistical argument involving the likelihood of a given atom to be involved in future such events, but I don't think that is what's going on here as the result is twenty-five orders of magnitude older than the universe (as far as we know). Any ideas?