Wonders of physics: making an egg stand vertically on a table

The magic trick

The magician will prove the audience that it is possible to stand an egg vertically on the table. First of all, the magician demonstrates an example of what happens if you just try to stand and egg on the table without anything on it. The audience will see that an egg doesn’t stand and falls down, no matter how hard you try.

How to perform this trick

Then the magician takes out a container of salt and shows it to the audience. Next, he pours a little bit of salt on the table. After that the magician takes an egg and carefully places it vertically on the part of the table covered with salt. The audience suddenly sees that and egg stands vertically without any support from the magician and does not fall down.

The secret

The trick is that salt allows stabilizing an egg in such a way that there is enough support for it to remain in upright position and not to fall down.

Items you'll need for this magic trick

Some type of identifiable container with salt
An egg (The type of salt does not make any difference, as long as the audience can easily recognize it)