# How long does an individual atom survive?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-an-individual-atom-survive/655514
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 12, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-an-individual-atom-survive/655514 "2013-04-12T16:19:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 22

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-an-individual-atom-survive/655514/22 "2022-02-25T17:54:32Z")

</div>

Hello Friends,

I have resuscitated this thread because ‘I discovered, while reminiscing after years of absence from this estimable board, the following long thread which also deals with precisely this topic, from just a few years earlier, and its ins and outs complement what’s here wonderfully:

> [@What is the ultimate fates, and in what order, for the atoms of my body?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-ultimate-fates-and-in-what-order-for-the-atoms-of-my-body/600010):
>
> I was pondering mortality the other day. Someone had asked me the usual “maybe there is a heaven; so how do you know where you’ll go when you die?” I told her I’d turn into a different arrangement of atoms, and that would be that. So I got to thinking, what would happen to my constituent atoms–in rough order of events per atom–over very long time scales until the Big Crunch, or whatever? Once I know the Dope, maybe I’ll ponder better.

I’m happy to be here again.

Leo

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-an-individual-atom-survive/655514)._