A question about the speed of Light in different media....

[Drakkith]

I understand your question. The term "speed of light" is somewhat of a misnomer, because what we are really talking about here is the rate of the exchange of information between adjacent participants in the propagating medium

No, there is no misnomer, and we aren't talking about how quickly information can pass through a medium in general. An electron can pass some distance through water at near c, while visible light is slowed down well below that value.

which is a constant value that we know to occur over a distance of 186,000 miles in one second in the medium of air, wherein that determination is made.

The speed of light in a vacuum is what c represents.

Denser mediums have more participants in the chain of information exchange over the same distance, therefore light will take longer to cross the denser medium for the same time frame, and when returned to the medium that is air, that distance increases with the decrease in density of the medium, and the apparent "speed of light" immediately returns to "normal".

Density, while related to the refractive index of a medium, is only part of the story. One medium can be denser than another and yet have a smaller refractive index.