Answer:
- The elements on the Periodic Table have been organized into groupings based on the chemical and reactive properties of the elements. The three major groups are the metals, nonmetals, and metalloids. The metals towards the left and lower parts of the Table tend to give up electrons in chemical bonding. The nonmetals to the right and upper parts of the Table tend to accept electrons in chemical bonding. The metalloids some say have an identity crisis and are a band of elements in between the metals and nonmetals which can show characteristics of the bordering groups depending on the type of bonding or chemical reaction. This group is also the foundation of our semiconductor, integrated circuit industries.
Other groupings of the elements are into "families" based on the chemical nature of the elements. Some of these are the alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, chalcogens, halogens, and inert/noble gases. There is also a semi-grouping of elements above atomic number 83 as these tend to be unstable and show natural radioactivity. Additionally, one could group the elements based on their physical states at room temperatures, such as solids, liquids, and gases.
In all both, chemical and physical properties are used to classify and group elements into useful associative collections based on these attributes. It simply depends on the purpose for the classification.