Extinction efficiency was measured for fibrous aerosol particles arrayed on a diaphragm in a plane orthogonal to the Poynting vector of the incident radiation. Very small quantities of material can be characterized in this static fashion. Two‐dimensional extinction efficiencies for a series of graphitic fibers of various resistivities are shown to agree with results of a variational theory. Particle interaction distances initiate at approximately the value of the length of the particle.