h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A nice bit of research.

I have known about Hawking radiation for some time, but somethings have just occurred to me to question it.
The "virtual" particle pair consists of a particle and an anti-particle.

1) Why when they rejoin do they completely cancel each other out, when "normal" matter & anti-matter pairings produce a vast amount of energy?

2) If it is the anti-particle which falls past the event horizon, energy will be emitted and the black hole will diminish in mass.
BUT, why is it the anti-particle all (or most of) the time?
Surely they should have an equaly probablilty of falling in?

I have the beginnings of an idea as to the answer to these two questions, but I would like to hear your views before sharing it.

I don't think that they are positive and negative energy particles like matter and antimatter. They are more like 2 'potential' particles, which, if either one disappears, the other becomes a real particle.