Not in the way you seem to be implying, no. Everything, living or nonliving, has potential energy coursing through it, flowing through every fiber of it; what I do involves the manipulation of that potential energy, forcing an instability within it such that it explodes. Finding and setting a channel along these objects increases the power I can gain from them - for example, destroying a book along the binding-seams at the spine can be done with much more force than trying to rip through its center while it lies flat. Getting the maximum amount of damage through the least amount of effort, basically; finding these channels is almost second nature to me by this point.

Just the same, there's a balance that exists in the world; trying to force too much from too little, whether it's raw materials or potential energy, can harm the alchemist attempting, as well as others in the general area. It's referred to as a rebound; it's nasty work.