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The periodic table is for elements, but can we make sense of the millions of compounds in our environment? The answer explained here is to classify them according to their physical properties, the same properties we use when we recycle – metals, ceramics (glass), plastic and organic waste, paper, plus the volatile waste we send up the chimney or down the drain. Add in ionic substances like ash and we have just five different sorts of compound. We find the same five groups when we look at the ways elements bond. Forget classifying substances into solid, liquid or gas and go, instead, for these five types: metals, ceramics, life polymers (both biodegradable and plastics), volatile and ionic, and learn about elements and compounds from the things we throw away.
