The law was devised by French general Guillaume Piobert  in 1839 to explain the behavior of gunpowder, but it has subsequently been applied to other solid propellants. Description of the reaction as burning may cause confusion with simple atmospheric combustion of solid materials where a similar reaction progression may be attributed to availability of the oxygen reactant only at the surface of the solid being consumed by the reaction. In the case of single-phase propellant grains, the progression is attributed to heat transfer from the surface of the solid of energy necessary to initiate the reaction. The heat transfer rate increases with pressure; and smokeless powder reaction rates vary with pressure as described by Paul Vieille in 1893.