Thermal inertia is a term commonly used to describe the observed delays in a body's temperature response during heat transfers. The phenomenon exists because of a body's ability to both store and transport heat relative to its environment. Since the configuration of system components and mix of heat transfer mechanisms (e.g. conduction, convection, radiation, phase change) varies substantially between instances, there is no generally applicable mathematical definition for thermal inertia. The phenomenon occurs in conjunction with a material's or a transport medium's heat transfer properties. A larger thermal storage capacity typically yields a more sluggish temperature response.