Annual Safe Cracking Competition Success in Israel

On Sunday 19 March, the Sherlock Ohms safecracking team travelled to Israel, to compete in the annual Weizmann Institute safe cracking competition.

The annual competition is run with the aim of building a safe based on two principles of Physics. In the case of the Habs team, this was Acoustic Levitation and Gravitational ion traps. The Habs team were up against 46 schools from countries around the world including Canada, Hong Kong, Romania, Slovenia, America, Israel and many more. 

Competition day kicked off with the judges’ intensive physics interviews, followed by other teams trying to crack the Sherlock Ohms safe. The Habs team, meanwhile had the task of attempting to crack other teams’ safes. The team broke into five from six and their own safe successfully defended four from six fully, with only one Slovenian team managing to fully crack the Habs safe. 

The next day began with an exhibition of all the safes – 46 to be exact – open to the public and professors. It ended with a prize giving ceremony and we are proud to announce that the Sherlock Ohms team placed 5th overall in the competition! They placed 2nd in the Judges’ category and received high praise from the competition organisers, other teams and members of the public. 

The students had a fantastic time in Israel as they tried the local cuisine, visited Tel Aviv, toured the Weizmann Institute and made new, international friends on their allotted free time. Their creativity and teamwork was immense as they cracked some difficult safes and it was brilliant to see their courage and ambition throughout the tournament. They also hope to set up a safecracking club next academic year. 

The team would like to thank Mrs Selouk very much for accompanying the team, and of course Mr Vincent and Mr Ryan for their generosity with time and materials in the Design and Technology department.