Generally, bearings are used to achieve rotational or linear motion and to reduce friction and handling stress. It’s similar to the wheel, the bearing enables the device to roll, which reduces the friction between the bearing surface and its tumbling surface. When friction is reduced, it is very easy to move in a rotational or linear fashion which also increases speed and efficiency.
The ball from ball bearings carries the weight of the load - the force of the load weight is the force that drives the bearing to rotate. It typically has two ways of loading, radial loads (Axial loads) and thrust loads, it depends on how is it being used, it probably only has to use one way to work, also it might be two ways at the same time.
simply put weight on the bearing, causing the bearing to roll or rotate due to tension. Thrust loads are significantly different and stress the bearing in a completely different way.
Thrust load, imaging a bearing (think tire) flips on its side (think tire swing now) and is subjected to full force at that angle (think three kids sitting on a tire swing), this is called a thrust load.
Ball bearing uses at least two rings to transmit the loads, the load is transmitted from the outer ring to the ball, then go through the ball to the inner ring. Most of the time, one ring is stationary and the other is attached to the opposite piece, as long as one of the ring rotates, the other will also rotate.
Because the ball is a sphere, it only contacts a very small point with the inner ring and outer ring, which helps it works smoothly. On the other hand, if the ball bearing is overloaded, the balls might be broken and even ruin the bearing.