Physical Intrepretation of cofactors

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Is there any physical significance of the matrix terms such as cofactors and minors? I state that this is used for finding the inverse but that is rather an abstract concept and does not motivate the student . Is there any real life applications of these terms.
 
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I'm also curious about a geometric interpretation of cofactors and minors. A determinant can be interpreted as some kind of area or volume. If we have a 3x3 determinant expanded in terms of cofactors and minors, it is written as a sum of terms. Each term (apparently) can be interpreted as a volume. The minors represent areas and the cofactors might represent sides. At the moment, I'm not patient enough to sit down and draw the geometry of a particular example. I wonder if some diligent geometer has already done that for us.
 

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