The combinations of physical elements of any technological equipment are what is referred to as the hardware. These elements are being integrated and fashioned to work with respect to an already prepared set of instructions, often referred to as codes. Another thing about Hardware is their vulnerability to damages. This is due to their physical nature, of course. The motherboards, Disk Drive, Sound card, are examples of Hardware. It should be emphasized, however, that these physical units called hardware can't work on their own but must be placed on a set of well-structured instructions called programming for them to run adequately.
Firmwares, on the other hand, are a set of instructions built to operate on Hardware for them to function. These are commonly referred to as Programs that are required by the numerous elements of any technological device to function as they are built into the Read-only Memory. Timing and Control Systems in Washing Machines, BIOS in IBM compatible Computers are examples of Firmwares.