Voice Activated Glue

Six months ago my other half bought a mirror which came with four self adhesive pads to fix it to the wall. Now she has changed her mind but the pads havn't. There is absolutely no way they are coming off the wall.

So lets have voice activated glue. Simply apply to the surfaces to be bonded, slide into place and give the command "STICK". When no longer required, merely march up within hearing distance of the joint an announce "UNSTICK", you might want to whisper that part if you have used the stuff around the house a lot.

Sonication, (the application of high intensity sound) of organic and aqueous solutions has quite a few interesting effects. For instance it can break polymers (long chains of molecules) into smaller segments in a controlled fashion, but also it can promote the formation of free radicals which can be used to synthesize polymers from shorter chains. It should therefore be possible to produce a material which on exposure to ultasound of differing frequencies breaks down long chain polymers (the 'unstuck state') or synthesizes polymers from the short chains (the 'stuck' state), Thus a reversible glue controlled by an ultrasonic "pistol" is entirely possible and would fulfill the idea.

I admit that it is a huge leap to a glue controlled by voice, and that this is a little bit of whimsy, but, to defend this idea, it might be possible in the future to create a material with its state so finely balance between long chains and short chains that it is responsive to the application of low frequency sound with a particular frequency pattern-ie the voice.