Is It Safe?

 

 

 

 

Build a safe that is uncrackable! Fifty teams of high school students from Israel and abroad recently took up this challenge set by the Davidson Institute of Science Education, which leads, coordinates and operates the educational activities of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Each team then tried to unlock the safes of the other teams. This year, the participating teams came from eight countries spanning four continents: Italy, Canada, USA, Slovenia, Britain, Australia, Thailand and Israel.

 

The Shalheveth Freier Physics Tournament, now in its 14^th year, requires high school students to design and build a safe with a locking mechanism based on principles of physics and physical phenomena, topping it off with a physics riddle. Those teams who succeed in building a safe are invited to the Davidson Institute at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where they try to break open as many of the other teams’ safes as possible in a limited amount of time. Entries receive points from a panel of Weizmann Institute scientists, not only for being pickproof but also for aesthetics and originality.

 

In this year’s tournament, first place was awarded to the team from Gimnazija Vic, Ljubljana, Slovenia; second place went to Mount Scopus Memorial College, Burwood, Australia; and third place was awarded to HEMDA – the Center for Science Education, Tel Aviv. The “Audience Favorite” prize was given to students from Ostrovsky High School, Raanana, and the “Best Safebreaker” award went to a team from Leyada High School, Givat Ram, Jerusalem.

 

The tournament is recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Education, and the 21 Israeli teams whose safes made it to the competition received 100 points for their physics lab matriculation.