a kernel is part of the operating system, it is the first thing that the boot loader loads onto the cpu (for most operating systems), it is the part that interfaces with the hardware, and it also manages what programs can do what with the hardware, it is really the central part of the os, it is made up of drivers, a driver is a program that interfaces with a particular piece of hardware, for example: if I made a digital camera for computers, I would need to make a driver for it, the drivers are the only programs that can control the input and output of the computer
