I understand that covalent bonds deal with non metal elements, and ionic bond metals and non metals. Is this the only difference? From my understanding, covalent bonds ‘share’ an electron, while ionic bonds form from one atom ‘steals’ an electron from another but the difference is for whatever reason eluding me.
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First off: the distinction between ionic and covalent isn’t sharp. There’s always some degree of sharing/stealing in any bond, it’s just that most bonds lean much more toward one than the other.
Your understanding of covalent = sharing and ionic = stealing is basically correct, so you know what an ionic bond *is*. (Bonds in the middle of this spectrum are called *polar covalent* bonds, and they share some of the characteristics of both extremes. The hydrogen-oxygen bond in water is a good example.)
As for why you’d care:
* Ionic compounds tend to have different molecular shapes. In covalent bonds, the shape of the shared electron orbitals forces particular shapes, described pretty accurately by [VSEPR theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VSEPR_theory) in most cases. In ionic bonds, the charged atoms just shove themselves into as tight a pattern as possible.
* Small molecules with ionic or polar-covalent bonds are usually soluble in water; non-polar covalent bonds are often not soluble in water. The reverse is true for non-polar solvents like oils.
* Ionic compounds almost always create highly conductive solutions when dissolved in water.
* Ionic solids have very high melting and boiling points relative most covalent compounds, because their structure is quite rigid. For the same reason, ionic solids tend to be very hard.
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