is there someplace that describes each of the properties that can be modified for particles? the tutorial goes into some of the properties, but I can't find any real descriptions of what each thing does.

My main issue right now, is that I want a smoke effect, that lasts for a certain amount of time, but the way the smoke particle object is now, the smoke dissapates and restarts.

How do I make it last longer. I would love to be able to put the particle into the time line and simply trim it to the length that I really want. I tried mofifying the 'life' property, but I don't think that that's working.