For reactions which go rapidly to completion, it is often possible to measure the heat of reaction directly using a calorimeter. One large class of reactions for which such measurements are common is the combustion of organic compounds by reaction with molecular oxygen (O 2) to form carbon dioxide and water (H 2 O). The heat of combustion can be measured with a so-called bomb calorimeter, in which the heat released by combustion at high temperature is lost to the surroundings as the system returns to its initial temperature. Since enthalpy is a state function, its value is the same for any path between given initial and final states, so that the measured Δ H is the same as if the temperature stayed constant during the combustion.