What if the periodic table had gone differently?

Mendeleev arranges the elements so their properties repeat, and predicts the gaps.

If it had gone differently: Chemistry stays a catalogue of unrelated substances; the logic of the atom is worked out much later.

The real history on Wikipedia ↗

Later turning points that leaned on the periodic table. Change it in the game and the ripples reach all of these.

1. 1907The first synthetic plastic. Without it, Manufacturing stays bound to wood, metal, glass and rubber; cheap moulded everything never arrives.
2. 1909The Haber–Bosch process. Without it, Farm yields hit a hard ceiling set by manure and guano; the planet feeds maybe half as many people.