Two Halves of Every Computer
Every computer, phone, and gadget is really two things layered on top of each other. There is the physical object itself — a tangible piece of equipment made of metal, plastic, and silicon — and there is the invisible set of instructions that brings it to life. The first is called hardware, the second is called software. Together they form one working device.
Hardware: The Parts You Can Touch
Hardware is the physical side of computing. It is everything you could, in principle, pick up and hold. The processor chip inside, the memory, the storage drive, the screen, the keyboard, the speakers, the battery — these are all hardware. So is the device itself, with its case and ports. Hardware does the actual work of moving electricity around, but on its own, it does not know what to do with that ability.
Software: The Instructions That Drive It
Software is the layer that tells the hardware what to do. It is not a physical thing you can hold, but a set of coded instructions stored as data inside the device. The operating system that boots up when you turn the device on is software. So are the apps you tap, the web browser you use, and the games you play. Software is written by people, translated into a form the hardware can follow, and then read step by step by the processor.
A Helpful Picture
A simple analogy is to think of a computer as a body. The hardware is the body itself — the bones, muscles, and nerves. The software is the thoughts and instructions that decide what the body actually does. Without instructions, the body just sits there. Without a body, the instructions have nothing to act on. Neither side does anything useful alone; it is the combination that makes a computer come to life.
Source
This article was written using information from Wikipedia.